


See You Around The Block

by geckointhegarbage



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Cuban Lance (Voltron), Enemies to Lovers, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay Keith (Voltron), M/M, Rivals to Lovers, Slow Burn, Slow Burn Keith/Lance (Voltron), Strangers to Lovers, Unrequited Love, shiro is in the military, soft, very fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-10-11
Packaged: 2019-03-27 14:43:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 32,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13883043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geckointhegarbage/pseuds/geckointhegarbage
Summary: Keith's father is gone, Shiro's off in the military, and Keith is on his own during his senior year of highschool. Until he meets a really cute boy in AP History. This year is sure going to be something.





	1. The Funeral

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize in advance for my horrible writing. Haven't written any fics in a while.
> 
> Let me know what you think, I'll try and update at least once a week!

Life is an interesting concept. A force that can make something feel, touch, taste, hear, experience. A substance so rare that few can possess it and use it for themselves. Life gives the objects meaning, a job to do during their time with it here on this planet. Or maybe other planets too. Eventually, when life knows the job is complete, life must leave to give another purpose. So it does, leaving the object empty again, non-living. Purposeless.

 

Even though life had not yet left Keith’s body, it was starting to strain. Keith watched as his father’s coffin was gently lowered into the ground, the air thick with grief. His hands trembled in his pockets, and he squeezed his fists tighter and tighter to stop the tears from coming. He would not cry today. His dad would be disappointed. 

 

Keith felt a warm hand grasp his shoulder. He didn’t need to look up to see who it was. “It’s okay to cry,” whispered Shiro. “Dad wouldn’t mind, it’s okay.” 

 

Keith didn’t move a muscle. Instead, he watched the coffin make it’s final  _ thump  _ onto the cold earth. His father’s last words from the hospital came to mind:  _ “Shiro, Keith, I might leave soon, but remember that I am proud of you both. So very proud. Patience yields focus, okay? Patience yields focus.”  _

 

Before he knew it, Shiro began to steer Keith to the car waiting in front of the cemetery. The car Dad drove Keith to his first day of school in. The car he taught Shiro and Keith to drive in. The car that had chipped red paint and broke down every now and again. The last bit Keith had left of him. 

 

Keith jumped into the passenger seat as Shiro walked around the front of the car to the driver’s seat. Gray clouds began to cover the light blue of the sky, blocking out the sun. That’s alright. Keith was never too fond of the sun anyway. Especially today. 

 

The door creaked open and slammed shut as Shiro climbed in. The jingle of the keys were accompanied by the jolt of the engine. Keith didn’t move his head from the window. A gentle hum of static buzzed out of the radio. 

 

Shiro cleared his throat as he put the car into drive. Keith prayed he wouldn’t start talking. He didn’t need another lecture about,  _ This is life, Keith. You know it was going to happen soon. He’s been in the hospital in and out for so long. We still have his memory with us. He’ll never truly leave us. We’ll be alright.  _

 

_ We’ll be alright.  _

 

That tops at the biggest lie Shiro ever told him, next to he would always be there. Even after his father’s death, Shiro still was leaving for the military in a week. A week. That’s all he has with his closest family member. Then it’s off to Uncle Kolivan with him, to live for the rest of highschool. 

 

Shiro didn’t speak. He knew what Keith was thinking, and keeping his mouth shut would do them both some good. They drove silently down the road, the soft buzz of static the only sound. 

 

From his pocket, Keith felt the vibration of a text message. He ignored it. Seconds before Shiro turned onto their street, he gave in. 

 

“You feeling okay?” he asks, eyes still glued to the road. Keith rolls his eyes and turns himself even more away from him. The tears were forming, and crying in Dad’s car with Shiro was the last thing he needed. 

 

After a couple of seconds of silence, Shiro inquires again, “Keith, you alright?” 

 

Keith knew he had to answer, or Shiro would park the car in front of Ms. Ngo’s house and start a therapy session. Swallowing some feelings of sadness, he opens his mouth. “Fine. I’m feeling fine.”

 

Shiro pulled into their driveway. “You sure? You haven’t said a word all day.” 

 

“I’m okay, Shiro.” 

 

“I don’t believe that.”

 

Shiro shifts the car into park, and switches off the engine. The keys are held in his hand, but he doesn’t move them into his pocket. The doors are still locked. Looks like the therapy session is happening anyway. 

 

“I know my brother. He doesn’t go this long without talking, without showing any emotion. Okay, maybe you did that when you were in your emo phase, but now…” Shiro pauses. “This isn’t you anymore. Something changed.” 

 

He lets the silence settle while he waits for Keith to respond. Keith takes a deep breath, and flops over so he faces the windshield. He can’t look Shiro in the eye. 

 

“Dad’s gone. I’m more depressed than usual. There. There’s your summary. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

 

Keith moves his hand to pull at the door handle, but the car is still locked. 

 

Shiro sighs, and runs a hand through his short hair. “Look, I know you’re upset about me leaving too. But you know I have too. And I’ll be back before you know it. Before you graduate. You’ll get to see me then.” 

 

Keith inhales deeply. He’s not going to explode. Not now. 

 

“In 6 months Shiro.  _ 6 months.  _ So much is going to happen in that time. Dad’s already gone in 3. I’m going into my last year of highschool, which’ll be over in 9. You’re gonna miss my 18th birthday too, in 2 months. Don’t you see? You can’t leave. You’ll miss too much.” Keith takes a few more deep breaths, determined to keep calm. He tries the handle again as discretely as he can while Shiro begins to respond. Still locked.

 

“I know. I know I’m going to be gone for a long time. And I’m sorry. I know how it feels, to leave you for that long. I promise I’ll be back soon. Okay? We still have some more time together before-” 

 

And Keith snaps. “No! You don’t get it Shiro! Dad’s gone!  _ Gone!  _ All I have left is you. No one else. I can’t let you go out there and-,” Keith chokes out a sob. “And get hurt. Or killed. Or worse.” The tears pave a trail down his face. “I can’t let that happen, Shiro. I can’t.” 

 

Shiro exhales, and Keith hears his seat creak back. “I’ll be okay. I’ll make it back to see you.” 

 

Keith scoffs. “That’s what everyone says before they leave. Then they don’t all come back.” 

 

Shiro is quiet for a while. Keith tugs at the door handle. Nothing. He begins to debate breaking the window when-

 

“Keith,” whispers Shiro. “Turn around.” 

 

Keith slowly turns his head to face his brother, and is met with a surprise. Shiro was crying. Shiro, who was supposed to be strong for the both of them today, was crying. 

“I’m scared Keith. Terrified. I don’t know what is going to happen to me when I go out again this time. I don’t. I need you to tell me that I’ll make it back home. That I’ll get to see you graduate from high school, that I’ll be able to drive you to college. You have to be strong for me this time.” 

 

Keith purses his lips together, and takes his hand away from the handle. “I will Shiro. You’ll come home. You’ll get to see me graduate. You’ll drive me to college. You’re going to be alright.” 

 

Shiro wraps his arms around Keith. Keith hesitates for a second, but returns the hug. They stay that way for a long time. The next time Keith goes for the handle, it opens into the rain. 

* * *

 

**Gremlin:** You alright?

 

**Keef:** Yeah, I’m okay

 

**Gremlin:** You sure? 

 

**Keef:** Yes Pidge. I had a therapy session with Shiro and everything

 

**Gremlin:** OK, but if you need anyone, I’m here

 

**Keef:** Yes, I know.

 

**Gremlin:** Have you gotten your schedule yet? 

 

**Keef:** Nothing in the mail today

 

**Gremlin:** Check online

 

**Keef:** They got them online now?

 

**Gremlin:** Yeah. New thing this year

 

**Keef:** School website? 

 

**Gremlin:** Yeah dumbass

 

**Keef:** Shut up

 

**Gremlin:** So?

 

**Gremlin:** Keeeeiiittthhhh

 

**Gremlin:** Respond or I won’t talk to you for a month

 

**Keef:** That’d be a blessing

 

**Gremlin:** -__-

 

**Gremlin:** Schedule. Show me. Now.

 

**Keef:** Fine

 

**Keef:** [IMAGE]

 

**Gremlin:** Dude we have history together!! 

 

**Keef:** With Mr. Coran? 

 

**Gremlin:** Yeah

 

**Keef:** Isn’t he a little insane?

 

**Gremlin:** Insane, maybe. But he’s still a fun teacher

 

**Keef:** I don’t trust you on that

 

**Gremlin:** Well you should

 

**Gremlin:** I’m always right

 

**Keef:** Um, not always

 

**Gremlin:** ONE TIME

 

**Gremlin:** I SET YOUR HAMPER ON FIRE O N C E 

 

**Keef:** Still happened though

 

**Gremlin:** Yeah but you gotta admit that the fire was spectacular

 

**Keef:** A spectacle of burning laundry and Shiro’s screams

 

**Keef:** You almost gave a 25 year old man a heart attack. You should be concerned

 

**Gremlin:** Concerned or taking over the world

 

**Gremlin:** I prefer the latter

 

**Keef:** Whatever

 

**Gremlin:** I gotta go, Matt wants to head out to the mall before he leaves

 

**Keef:** OK

 

**Keef:** See you later

 

**Keef:** Pidge?

 

**Keef:** Rude

 

* * *

  
  


Keith wakes up from his nap to the sound of the microwave beeping from down the hall. He yawns, and stretches out his sore limbs. Then he remembers. 

 

He remembers the funeral, the car, talking to Pidge. Keith groans, and rubs the palm of his hand against his forehead. Shiro might want to talk to him more after that. But Keith doesn’t get to head back to bed before he hears Shiro calling him for dinner. 

 

Keith forces himself to shuffle his feet out the door and down the hall to the kitchen, where Shiro had heated up a microwave lasagna. Those things may not be “real food” but it’s definitely much better than what Shiro considers lasagna. 

He walks in as Shiro is cutting it in half, and putting it onto two plates. Shiro hears his footsteps, and turns around. “You ready to eat?” 

 

His tone is steady, completely normal. But somehow Keith can’t help but feel he’s about to start talking about him leaving again. At least this time, they aren’t locked in a car together. 

 

Keith shrugs his shoulders in his black sweatshirt. “Yeah. Which plate is mine?” 

 

“Take whichever.”

 

Keith grabs the one on the right and makes way to the couch, grabbing a fork from a drawer.  He makes it to his spot on the couch before Shiro, and switches on the TV. It plays the news, with Andrea and Scott. Keith switches the channel.

 

He skips over all of them until he finally settles on it.  _ Parks and Recreation   _ reruns are playing, a show that Keith wishes he’d have watched sooner. He feels Shiro sink into his spot on the couch next to him. 

 

For a while, it’s just Leslie, Tom, and Ron talking in the background, with the occasional  _ clinck _ of a fork on a plate. Then they are both finished with their pieces and sit in even more silence. And more silence. And more silence. Then Shiro broke it. 

 

“Uncle Kolivan says he’s coming to get your stuff the day before I leave,” Shiro’s eyes are still on the TV as he speaks to Keith. “You’ll leave with him after I go, and Coleen said she’d keep the house clean for us.” 

 

His eyes were still on the TV. 

 

Keith’s weren’t. They drifted off of Andy onto Shiro’s face. He was talking in a very casual tone, like he was saying he was planning on just going on a vacation soon. “Okay,” was all he could say in response. 

 

“I can help you pack if you want,” Shiro locked eyes with Keith. Keith buried his hands in his pockets, the sweatshirt not big enough for him to bury his hands in his sleeves. Shiro blinked, waiting for a response. 

 

Keith decided he didn’t want to have another Car Talk™ right now, so he went along with it. “Sure.” 

 

Neither said anything the rest of the episode. The credits rolled, they bid each other goodnight, and went to bed. 

  
  
  
  
  



	2. Dirtbikes and Goodbyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Told you I'd update often at the beginning.

 

It’s been a week. Almost. 

 

Keith watches Shiro zip up his duffel bag from the door. His room is still shades of purple, just as it has been since he was six. The antique dresser is still there, the entire top of it covered in various Funko Pop figures. He still had the same lightning bolt bedsheets. 

 

But everything was different now. Shiro will be far away from him in the next 24 hours. And he won’t be anywhere near Keith for 6 months. Six, long, painful months. Keith doesn’t know if he’ll be able to make it that long. 

 

Shiro notices Keith watching him from the doorframe. He smiles up at him. “I’m almost ready to go. You?” 

 

Keith nods stiffly. “My stuff’s all packed, left it near the door for Uncle.” 

 

Shiro smiles and nods in return, trying to think of something to say to make this better. But nothing he says could make this any better, other than,  _ I’m staying home.  _ Shiro knew deep down that there was no guarantee that he would see his brother again, or see him in the same way. He’s seen war veterans. They’re never the same again. 

 

Today was going to count. Shiro was going to make their last day one of the best they’ve ever had. So he proposed, just as Keith turned to leave the room, “Want to go racing?” 

 

He’s never seen Keith smile this wide since Dad had bought him those drawing pencils. “I’d love to.” 

 

Shiro get onto his feet, and brushes his hands on his jeans. “Then let’s go.” 

* * *

 

Keith breathed in the air deeply, closing his eyes. He let the feeling of being near the track wash over him. Excitement, nostalgia,  _ fear.  _ All were present as he and Shiro payed the entrance fee and walked to where they could rent the bikes. 

 

Racing was something they’ve been doing for years. They’ve been here so often that the man who owns the place, Alfor, knows them both on sight. Occasionally, if he’s feeling generous, he’ll give them a discount or a free basket of fries. 

 

Today, Alfor wasn’t there, but his daughter was. Allura was manning the counter in the bike rental shack. She smiles and waves as the door sways shut. 

 

“Hey! You guys riding today?” she asks, not even bothering to hear their answer as she gets two helmets their size off the rack behind her. 

 

“We are,” Shiro replies, and takes both helmets with a smile, handing one off to Keith. “Mind if we head to the back and grab bikes?”

 

Allura nods enthusiastically. “Go ahead.”

 

Keith waves as he passes by her, following Shiro to the bikes. Each one was kept in a small garage, the seats worn down from previous riders, but functional all the same. Both Keith and Shiro have been here too many times to count, and had favorite bikes out of the bunch. 

 

Keith’s was parked in the far back of the garage. The bright red paint stood out from all the others, and the silver trim didn’t hurt either. Even though it had a thin layer of dust near the wheels, he still felt like it stood out. 

 

Shiro wheeled his over to the door, and waited for Keith to do the same. His bike was jet black, with gold trim _. It’s_ _elegant, like you’d take a girl on that or something,_ his dad had said when Shiro showed him the bike. _But still a dirtbike all the same._

 

Keith got to the door, and they both wheeled out to the track. Buckling on their helmets, both brothers were snapping back and forth. 

 

“I’m definitely going to be able to go around five times before you hit one,” Keith said, with a hint of snark. 

 

“Really? Because last time we rode, I lapped you  _ three times.  _ Three times Keith!” Shiro retorted, starting to climb onto his bike. 

 

“How about a race? Unless,” Keith laughs mockingly, “you’re not up for it?”

 

Shiro’s lip curled upward. “Alright, is that a challenge?”

Keith swings himself onto his bike with one swift kick upward with his right leg. “You bet it, bro.” 

 

Shiro revs his engine, and drives slowly onto the track. Keith follows, until they are both even on the empty track. 

 

Shiro turns to his brother, and begins the countdown. “3.”

 

Keith smirks, and revs his engine, attempting to intimidate him. “2.”

 

Shiro gets ready to hit the gad. “1!”

 

Keith screams as he flies forward. “Go!” 

 

And just like that, they are off. The sound of the engines and the sights of the track are the only things that occupy Keith’s mind. Nothing about his dad. Nothing about Shiro. Just him and the track in front of him. 

 

Then Keith catches a glint of gold in the corner of his eye. And the gleam of Shiro’s smirk as he pulls ahead. Keith pushes harder on the gas, determined to surge farther forward. He leans his body forward, hoping to make him more streamlined. 

 

It doesn’t work. He falls behind. Shiro passing their starting point seconds before Keith does, but it is still clear that Shiro is the winner. He pulls his bike to a halt, and pumps a fist into the air. 

 

Keith pushes on the brakes too, and lifts off his helmet. Both are laughing. 

 

“I won! Suck it, Keith!”

 

Keith sticks his tongue out at him. “Only this time, Takashi.” He shoves his helmet back onto his head. “Another?” 

 

Shiro pulls back on his helmet, and they race around the track again. And again. And again. 

* * *

  
But, as they say, all good things must come to an end. Shiro and Keith have to eventually return their bikes, say goodbye to Allura, and drive back home. Kolivan is waiting for them when they get there. 

 

Keith takes a gulp of air. It’s now time to face reality. Shiro is leaving for the military tomorrow. And he’s going to be living with Uncle for the next 6 months, per his father’s will. He is still 17, and sadly, he was left in the care of Kolivan. 

 

Keith and Shiro both take deep breaths as they exit the car, slamming their doors behind them. Keith squeezes his fist shut. 

 

Kolivan gets up from the doorstep, and takes large steps down to the driveway. Keith watches how he doesn’t display a single emotion on his face. There was no sign that he knew or cared that his brother had just died, or that Shiro was going off to war. 

 

“Uncle,” Shiro greets politely, holding out his hand for Kolivan to shake. Kolivan takes it, and they share a firm handshake. 

 

“Takashi,” he responds, bowing his head slightly. The he turns to Keith. And the first emotion Keith can see since he got here shows. Disappointment. 

 

“Akira,” he says, his voice more bitter than it was when he had said Shiro’s name. He hold out his hand for Keith, regretfully. Keith takes it, and they share a very quick handshake. Keith swallows. 

 

“You boys want to help me get Akira’s stuff into my truck?” Kolivan asked. No, not asked. Commanded. There were no questions when Kolivan was concerned. 

 

Shiro answered for them both. “Yessir,” and both him and Keith opened the front door to get Keith’s things. Keith notices Shiro avoided eye contact with him the whole time they were moving Keith’s things into the pickup truck. Kolivan watched from the driver’s seat. 

 

Finally, when the last box of Keith’s books had been loaded into the back of the truck, and they both said good-bye to their uncle, Kolivan drove off. He didn’t offer his condolences, tell either of them that he was proud that they were so strong. He just up and left. Like everyone else in Keith’s life. 

 

Dinner for that night was to be Chinese takeout, a favorite of Shiro’s. In a matter of an hour, chow mein and orange chicken boxes littered the coffee table, while  _ Fresh Off The Boat  _ played in the background. 

 

The atmosphere was loud and lively. Keith and Shiro acted like this was just another boys night, and not the last night they might possibly have together. They ignored the fact that Shiro was leaving the next day to enjoy themselves, have fun. Not get distracted or sidetracked. 

 

But the clock struck midnight. Shiro noticed the time first, and turned sadly to face Keith, who was still laughing at a joke Shiro made. 

 

Shiro took a deep breath. “It’s time for bed.”

 

Keith immediately stopped laughing. He knew what that meant.  _ Time’s up.  _

 

Keith was determined to not make this difficult. He nods his head, and starts to grab at the empty Chinese food containers, and place them in the trash. They clean up in silence,  _ Fresh Off The Boat  _ not even able to make them even slightly cheery. 

 

Then the last container was dropped into the trash, and the TV was switched off. Silence. Keith, surprisingly, was the first to speak.  

 

“Good night,” he breathed. 

 

Shiro nods, and mumbles back, “See you tomorrow.” They both know that it might be the last time he says that. Neither bring it up. 

 

They shuffle to their rooms, and climb into bed. Neither sleep for a long time. 

 

* * *

 

Today’s the day. Today’s the day Shiro leaves. The brothers get up, bright and early, get dressed, eat breakfast, and get Shiro’s things with only a few words said to each other. The more they talk to each other, the more painful the goodbye will be. 

 

Then their at the drop off. Shiro signs in, and Keith can’t take it anymore. He runs to his brother, and wraps his arms around his neck tightly. Shiro responds, and hugs his brother back even tighter. Keith bites his lip to keep the tears from flowing. Kolivan rolls his eyes behind him. 

 

“Promise you’ll be back in one piece,” Keith whispers in his brother’s ear. 

 

Shiro nods his head in Keith’s shoulder. “I will. I swear I’ll be back in one piece.” 

 

Keith let’s a single tear fall. So does Shiro. The speaker crackles in the background, calling for Shiro to leave. Shiro gives Keith one last squeeze and lets go. He nods to Kolivan, and begins to jog to the line. He doesn’t look back. 

 

Keith takes large breaths to steady himself. Shiro’s leaving. Maybe for good.  _ Patience yields focus.  _ Then he feels a squeeze on his shoulder. Not the comforting one Shiro gave him at the funeral. An urgent one. A  _ let’s go, you’re holding up something.  _ Keith is forced to oblige, and he walks with Kolivan, his hand still attached to his shoulder, to the car. 

 

Keith doesn’t cry for his brother. He sobs. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shiro's gone now :(
> 
> But don't worry! Keith will be happy again soon. 
> 
> Check out my Tumblr: geekstuckinthetrash.tumblr.com


	3. New Beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith moves in with Kolivan, and begins his first day of senior year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! This one was... something. It took me a little less time to write, surprisingly, than the others. 
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy! Next update will (hopefully) be sometime this week.

 

“You can sleep in here,” Kolivan nudges Keith into the barren room. Keith’s stuff was already dumped on the yellowing carpet. The walls were a similar gross shade of yellow. 

 

“Thank you, Uncle,” Keith replied through gritted teeth, not turning to look him in the eye. Kolivan wasn’t going to react well to his sob fest he had earlier as Shiro left. He tried not to think about that. 

 

He heard Kolivan grunt behind him, and his deep voice instructing him to be downstairs for dinner in an hour. Keith didn’t respond, and eventually his heavy footsteps faded from earshot. 

 

Carefully, like the room was covered in trip wires and lasers, Keith tiptoed in. The shaggy carpet was peeling up in the corners, and there was a long, thin crack in the ceiling. The closet had mirrored doors, so he saw just how miserable he looked. 

 

His face was streaked with tears, his eyes red a puffy. Keith wipes his nose on the sleeve of his black sweatshirt, the same one he had worn a week ago with Shiro. He lays down on the floor before beginning to unpack, and closes his eyes. 

 

It smells spicy and moist, a weird combination to his nose. Unnatural. The clatter of pots and pans downstairs told him Kolivan was cooking tonight. His bones ache, and he debates just taking a nap, right then and there. 

 

_ No,  _ he tells himself.  _ Don’t get Kolivan angry.  _ He agrees, and starts to push himself up. Turning his head to the left so he can see his bed, and luggage, he groans, but gets to work anyway. 

 

Unpacking was quick and painless; Keith didn’t have a lot of things. So was dinner. Kolivan ate in his office, and only said one word to Keith, “Eat.” Better he said that than telling him to leave. 

 

As Keith lay in bed that night, the mattress bumpy and uncomfortable against his back, he stared up at the ceiling. Lights from the street flickered in and out of his view. In three days, he’d be starting his senior year of high school. God, he hadn’t even thought about that. That he’d finally out of school soon, and launched into some weird form of hell referred to as “adulthood”. Nope, definitely not ready for that. 

 

He sighed, and reached over to the cardboard box he was using as a bedside table. Keith feels the cold, smooth glass of his phone screen, and grabs it. The light from the phone shines brightly in the darkness, and it takes him a few seconds to adjust to the sudden brightness. Clicking on the text message app, he opens up one of the four conversations he had, with Pidge. 

 

**Keef:** You up?

 

**Gremlin:** Duh

 

**Keef:** Duh?

 

**Gremlin:** It’s 2 am

 

**Gremlin:** Why wouldn’t I be up?

 

**Keef:** Forget I asked

 

**Gremlin:** Something up?

 

**Gremlin:** You know, with the whole “Matt, Shiro, and Sam leaving” thing

 

**Keef:** Yeah

 

**Keef:** Been at Kolivan’s all day, actually looking forward to school soon

**Gremlin:** :(

 

**Gremlin:** Need to talk or anything?

 

**Gremlin:** Go ahead, I got all night

 

**Keef:** I want to die

 

**Gremlin:** Me too

 

**Gremlin:** We started a club on that

 

**Gremlin:** Too bad Iverson shut us down, that would’ve been really useful right about now

 

**Keef:** Yeah

 

**Keef:** I don’t think I’ll be able to survive for 6 months with Kolivan

 

**Keef:** I knew he hated me as a kid and stuff, didn’t think I was worth as much as Shiro

 

**Keef:** Never really have been a star student and whatever

 

**Gremlin:** Ew

 

**Gremlin:** Can I punch him?

 

**Keef:** I don’t think you can reach up that high

 

**Gremlin:** I can if you lift me like Simba

 

**Keef:** Not doing that

 

**Gremlin:** >:(

 

**Gremlin:** OK, but seriously, you gonna be alright?

 

**Gremlin:** Because I can ask Mom if you can stay with me

 

**Gremlin:** With the stuff that happened with your Dad and Shiro, might be nice to hang with a friend

 

**Gremlin:** Keith?

 

**Keef:** Still here

 

**Keef:** I’m gonna try and sleep

 

**Keef:** I’ll see you at school

 

**Gremlin:** OK

 

**Gremlin:** Night Keef

 

**Keef:** Night Gremlin

 

* * *

  
  


Three days later, it was time. Time to enter Hell, Part One. Well, technically that was junior year, but Shiro was here during the late nights, so Keith revoked its title. Senior year was definitely going to live up to its name, no doubt about that. With 3 AP classes and Kolivan, Keith  _ will  _ die, a fate that didn’t seem that bad compared to adulthood. 

 

He hitched a ride with Pidge on the first day. She chatted excitedly beside him about a robot she was working on for robotics club, and about how she was so gonna crush the AP Calculus kids this year. Keith was half listening, half concentrated on picking at his gray t-shirt. 

 

They had AP World History together with Mr. Coran first period, in block D. Pidge lead the way and Keith followed her into the room like a drone. Having “emotions” or “feelings” was not an option today. He was about to walk to a table when he heard a loud voice shout something behind him. 

 

Keith whipped his head around, and caught the end of a conversation between a tall, lanky boy and his friend. The tall boy was practically screaming about- something to do with swimming?- while his friend listened, looking intrigued. They stood just outside the door. Keith prayed that they weren’t in his class.

 

“-and then you will not  _ believe  _ what he did,” he said dramatically. His friend covered his mouth with his hand, gasping. 

 

“Oh my god what did he do?” he asked, with fake enthusiasm.  

 

“That bastard  _ pushed me in, _ ” the tall boy gasped, draping an arm over his face. “It was so humiliating!” 

 

His friend pretended to fake cry before the both bursted out into a fit of laughter. Keith rolled his eyes at the drama kings and turned his head back around to face the classroom. It was grouped in tables, not individual seats. Their teacher, Mr. Coran, was standing at the front of the class, hands on his hips, beaming at his students, who were standing confused in a line against the back wall of the room. 

 

“Welcome, welcome, welcome AP World History class!” he said in a singsong voice. His voice was accented with something… Australian?

 

Now, Keith knew Mr. Coran was weird, but not  _ bright orange mustache  _ weird. The man had a gorgeous, bright orange mustache, and was now twisting it with his index finger. Seriously, how could he not have noticed him walking around campus before?

 

“Now, this year, I am trying something a little different. You will be placed into tables-,” he began, but was rudely interrupted by the yelling of the tall boy, who was, in his class.  _ Great.  _

 

The boy and his friend kept talking, even with the deafening silence around them, and the stares from the other students. At this point, Pidge whipped out her phone from her back pocket, grinning mischievously, trying to get a video of the commotion. 

 

Mr. Coran cleared his throat, and the boy noticed. He slowly lowered his voice into silence. “Sorry sir,” he mumbled, stuffing his hands into his camouflage jacket pockets. 

 

The teacher nodded. “Next time, please keep your conversations outside the classroom,” he says, still grinning. Keith was getting a little creeped out. 

 

He blinks several times, then continues with his speech. “Now, as I was saying, I am trying a new method of teaching this year. The majority of work that will be occurring in this classroom is going to be group work, or partner work. And, before you start cheering and throwing parties, I want to be the damp blanket.” He clears his throat before sauntering over to the projector, and removing the cover from its lens. 

The light shines brightly on the surface of the screen, then dims down so the PowerPoint presentation Mr. Coran has up is visible. Written as the title is  _ Seats for the School Year  _ and a chart of the classroom. Each of the tables were drawn on, and in front of where each of the seats were, are names of the students. A massive groan echoes throughout the room. 

 

“Now, hurry up and get to your new seats for the year! I want to get started immediately!” Mr. Coran announces, and promptly sits down in front of his computer at the projector, leaving the students to figure everything out. 

 

Whispers and mumbles soon fill the classroom, as people push their way to their seats. Keith glances up at the projector to see that his name is diagonal from Pidge’s, at the table labelled “4”. Keith and Pidge silently cheer as they get to their seats. While he waits for his table mates, he reads the other two names listed at 4. 

 

_ Lance McClain.  _ Okay, he doesn’t know who that is, but they seem nice.  _ Hunk Garrett.  _ Huh. He doesn’t know them either, but at least he’ll have Pidge with him to help him out with these new people. 

 

Then the loud boy from before sits down, and everything stops. 

 

Keith isn’t able to stop himself from sighing loudly into his hand. The boy, sitting across from him, raises an eyebrow. 

 

“What?” he asks, pulling out a binder and a pencil. 

 

Keith runs a hand through his hair. “Nothing.” 

 

The boy returns to a neutral expression, but still glances at him a couple of times as Mr. Coran helps the last few people find their seats. 

 

When everyone is seated, Mr. Coran claps his hands together, drawing everyone’s eyes to him. “Thank you for getting to your seats so quickly and quietly!” 

 

Hopefully that was a joke. 

 

“Now, I want today to be calmer than usual, and I would like you to get to know your group mates. You will be working with them all year after all!” He switches off the projector, and the screen in front of the white board goes stark white. Mr. Coran pulls the screen up, and underneath is a list written in blue marker on the board: 

Mr. Coran’s Step-by-Step on Getting to Know Your Group!

  1. Ask their name
  2. Their favorite color
  3. Their favorite subject
  4. Their favorite sport
  5. Any mutual friends? 
  6. Have fun!



 

“We’ll be doing this for the rest of period. Once you go through the list, feel free to make light conversation!” Mr. Coran beams at the class before going back to his desk, and pulling out a book. He didn’t really seem like much of a teacher to Keith right now, but that better improve over the rest of the year. 

 

He turns his head back to face the rest of the group, and wishes he had a hoodie on to hide his hands. But alas, he did not, and was forced to mingle. 

 

The tall one was the first to speak. “So… should I start?” he asked. No one objected, and his friend nodded to encourage him. 

 

He put on a dazzling smirk as he introduced himself. “Whaddup, the name’s-” he stops to wink across the table at Keith, “-Lance. Lance McClain.” Keith rolls his eyes. This period was never going to end. 

 

Lance continues speaking, looking back every now and again to look at the next point on the list. “My favorite color is green. Or blue. Can’t pick a favorite. Uh, I like history I guess. Kinda why I’m here. Like to swim for sports, and… I dunno if we have any mutual friends. Mainly just got Hunk over here.” 

 

He and Hunk high-five, and Keith resists the urge to hit his head on the desk. Pidge starts her introduction next. “Hey, my name’s Katie but you guys can just call me Pidge-” 

 

She gets cut off by Lance, who gasps, “Aw, a pigeon! Always wanted one of those.” 

 

Pidge shoots him a Death Glare™, and he shuts up. She sits up straighter and continues, “Anyway, like I was saying, you can just call me Pidge. Favorite color’s green. Not a sports person, would much rather make a robot or something. And mutual friends? None, because I don’t have any friends.” 

 

Keith hears Lance mumble,  _ same _ , before everyone turns to look at him. They wait expectantly for him to say something.  _ Say something! _

 

Keith coughs, and he sees Lance suppress a laugh. He takes a deep breath and starts speaking, “Hi. Uh, my name’s Keith. I like red I guess. Also not much of a sports person. Um…,” he glances at the board to see the next point, feeling like he’s pausing for a beat too long. 

 

“Right, I don’t think I have any mutual friends with you guys, since I only have Pidge here,” he sinks down in his chair. “And that’s it, I guess.” 

 

Lance has the audacity to clap his hands a few times. “That,” he snickers between claps, “was Oscar worthy.” The only thing keeping Keith from lunging across the table and punching him was Pidge making eye contact with him and violently shaking her head. 

 

“Shut up,” was all Keith could choke out as Hunk started talking. 

 

“Hi. My name is Hunk. I like the color yellow. Unless baking cookies at 4am while studying for physics counts as a sport, I don’t do any. And Lance would be the only mutual friend, if I could call him a friend. The dude’s insane.” 

 

Lance nodded in agreement. “You got that right, buddy.” 

 

Keith was going to throw up in his mouth if Lance kept talking. 

 

Luckily, Pidge beat Lance. “Alright, so we went through the list. Anything anyone wants to talk about?” Keith could tell she was mainly talking to him, and he sunk lower in his chair. 

 

Lance comes in second place. “Yes I do,” he exclaims, getting ready to launch into a story. “It all started yesterday, when I showed up to swim tryouts and this guy named Rolo was all like,” he puffs out his chest, “ _ Hey dude you gotta problem with me or something?  _ And I was like,  _ Um, what’re you talkin’ about dude?  _ And then he was like  _ You hit on my sister!  _ And I was  _ this close _ to walking away from it and never speaking to this dude again when-”

 

Lance’s eyes locked onto Keith’s face, just as he rolled his eyes. Lance scoffs. “You gotta problem with me-” his eyes jump to Keith’s messy hair, “-Mullet?” 

 

Keith blinks in surprise. “Mullet?” he wonders aloud. “Is that the best you can think of?” 

 

Lance’s face is painted with a smirk. “Mullet, Asshole, Babe. A few of the nicknames I thought of.” He shoots a wink at Keith. Keith tightens his fist, hopefully to stop himself from blushing. Pidge’s wide, shit eating grin from next to Lance didn’t help him keep a straight face.

 

“Oohh! Good one Lance!” Hunk cheers, and the two high five. Keith was praying someone stabbed him in the next minute. 

 

Lance catches Keith’s eye. “Come at me, bro.” He waves his hands toward his chest. Keith looks at Pidge, and begs her for help, but she just twirls a pencil between her fingers, and leans back in her seat. This was going to be used as blackmail later, unless he won this petty argument. 

 

“I wouldn’t be so cocky, McLame,” he says, as confidently as he can. Pidge cups her hand around her mouth, and goes  _ OOOHH!! _ while Lance presses a hand dramatically to his heart. 

 

“Hunk…,” he gasps, “I’ve been shot.” 

 

“Oh my,” Hunk wipes away a fake tear. “We’ll get you to a hospital ASAP.” 

 

“There’s… no time,” Lance stutters. Pidge was watching, her head now on her hand, amused. Keith was debating whether a pencil to his eye would blind him. “Tell my family I love them.” He shudders. “I… love you.” 

 

Hunk fake sobs, and Pidge finally lets go of a laugh she’s been keeping in. “No! My love!” Hunk sighs. 

 

Lance leans into the back of his chair, and lets his tongue roll out of his mouth. Pidge was now covering her face in her hands, laughing very hard. 

 

Lance brings himself forward, and stands up, bowing, before sitting down again. “Thank you for coming to the show tonight folks! We’ll be here until Sunday.” He pulls his eyes to meet Keith’s, for the first time. Keith notices they are an blue. Cool. He’s never met anyone with blue eyes. 

 

Lance smiles at him for a split second, when the bell rings, dismissing them from class. As fast as Lance had smiled, he was at the door, despite being towards the back of the classroom. 

 

“See ya later, losers!” he calls, as he races out the door, Hunk yelling as he runs after him. 

“What just happened?” Keith breathes, still in his seat. Pidge shrugs, and stands up with her bag. 

 

“I dunno. All I know is that this year is going to be… quite something.”

Keith didn't get to respond before she was out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Next update to be sometime this week. 
> 
> Check out my Tumblr: geekstuckinthetrash.tumblr.com


	4. Why Keith Doesn't Like Instagram

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mr. Coran assigns the group their first group project, and it turns out a disaster. Why is Keith in AP World History again?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!! Hope you guys like this chapter. Working to get each chapter longer as it progresses, but let me know if it's too much. 
> 
> Which do you prefer: lots of shorter chapters, or few long chapters? Let me know!

The rest of the first day back was painful, to say the least. All of his teachers decided that the first day was the perfect day to pile homework on him so high he couldn’t breathe. At least Pidge got the same workload, and had invited Keith over to study. That was definitely a plus.

 

Pidge’s mom, Colleen, picked them up after school. Keith said a polite _Hello, Mrs. Holt. How are you?_ But was quiet for the rest of the drive. The stress was just starting to set in.

 

The door to their house opened, and Pidge immediately dragged Keith up the stairs.

 

“No funny business!” Mrs. Holt yelled from downstairs. Keith stifled a laugh.

 

“Oh my god Mom!” Pidge screeched. “For the last time, he’s gay!”

 

Keith heard a few mumbles from Mrs. Holt before Pidge shut her bedroom door, and flopped onto her bed, face first. He approached her cautiously, dropping his backpack onto the floor. “Uh,” he slid carefully close to her still body. Taking a pen poking out the side pocket of her bag, he poked her gently. No response.

 

“Pidge?” he asked. “Katie?”

 

The next thing he heard were muffled screams from her comforter. “Ah,” he said, putting the pen back into the pocket, “So you didn’t die spontaneously.”

 

Pidge lifts her head from the bed. “Sadly not,” she says, combing her short hair back. She swings her bag onto her bed, and stares at it sadly. “I really don’t want to do homework right now.”

 

Keith brought his bag over to her bed. “You know we gotta. Just remember: we only got one more year of this shit left.”

 

Pidge crossed her legs and got out her binder. “Fine.”

 

Keith smiled and did the same, both of them opening to their calculus homework.

 

* * *

 

Keith had just finished dinner with Kolivan when he got a text. Flopping onto his bed, he opens it. As expected, it’s from Pidge.

 

 **Gremlin:** HEY

 

 **Gremlin:** LOSER

 

 **Gremlin:** I NEVER GOT TO ASK

 

 **Gremlin:** LANCE

 

 **Keef:**??

 

 **Keef:** What about him?

 

 **Gremlin:** Do you think he’s

 

 **Gremlin:** You know

 

 **Keef:** Annoying?

 

 **Gremlin:** No dumbass

 

 **Gremlin:** Cute ;)

 

 **Keef:** OH EW EW EW EW

 

 **Keef:** NO OF COURSE NOT

 

 **Gremlin:** Uh, you sure about that?

 

 **Gremlin:** Because you were all blushy-blushy today in class

 

 **Gremlin:** Also he called you babe

 

 **Keef:** That just means he’s a dude-bro

 

 **Gremlin:** Dude-bro?

 

 **Keef:** Yeah

 

 **Gremlin:**??

 

 **Keef:** A frat-boy?

 

 **Gremlin:** Ohh

 

 **Gremlin:** I gotchu

 

 **Keef:** See

 

 **Keef:** Not really my type anyway

 

 **Gremlin:** Aren’t all guys your type?

 

 **Keef:** OH MY GOD PIDGE THAT’S NOT HOW IT WORKS

 

 **Gremlin:** Jeez

 

 **Gremlin:** Calm down

 

 **Gremlin:** I’m sorry you don’t have a boyfriend

 

 **Keef:** Shut up

 

 **Gremlin:** OK

 

 **Gremlin:** Shutting up

 

 **Gremlin:** Night

 

 **Keef:** Night

* * *

  


Walking to class the following day, Keith was not excited. At all. He was going to have to spend a whole year across the table from this doofus. And Lance. He pushes the door open, and trails his eyes to his table. Pidge is the only one sitting there, tapping away on her phone.

 

Keith pulls out a chair, and sits down. Pidge doesn’t notice.

 

“Hello? Pidge?” he draws out her name. She doesn’t respond.

 

“Pidgeon?” he asks, waving a hand in front of her phone. At that, she whips her head up.

 

“What?” she asks, in a dangerously low voice. Keith raises his hands up.

 

“Calm down dude. Just wanted to ask if you knew when class started.”

 

Pidge checks the time, then opens the app she was in again. “Class starts in 5 minutes.”

 

“OK,” Keith mumbles, and starts messing with his gloves. He usually doesn’t wear them much, but today he was… kinda feeling it. The dark, mysterious guy look. Why not go for it?

 

He’s pulling on a loose thread when Lance walks in, or rather, struts. Seriously, this guy’s ego is bigger than the state of Texas. Hunk isn’t with him, which makes this even worse. His eye catches on Keith from across the room.

 

“Hey Mul- Is that a flannel?” he starts, but cuts himself off. He raises his eyebrows in surprise. Keith rolls his eyes and turns his head back around.

 

He hears Lance approach, one hyperactive step after another. Keith was not ready for the string of comments to come, and attempted to shield himself by sinking lower in his chair. That wasn’t enough, as he heard Lance snicker as he sat down.

 

“A red flannel and fingerless gloves? What’s next, eyeliner?” he smirks over at Keith, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair, totally relaxed. Keith tenses up.

 

“No,” he mumbles. “Just let me wear clothes, dude.”

 

Lance nods, but keeps smirking. Keith can tell he has some smart-ass comment coming. “Would prefer if you didn’t.”

 

And the red was not just on his shirt, but on his face too. Pidge looked like she was about to bust out a bag of popcorn from under her desk, and Lance had a smug look on his face. Keith was going to kick it.

 

“Can you shut up?” Keith replies, his voice muffled. He doesn’t plan on removing his hands from his face anytime soon.

 

“Make me.”

 

Lance had a shit-eating grin on his face, still watching Keith. Keith decided he wasn’t going to open his mouth. Lance then noticed Hunk enter the class, and leaned back into a normal position. “Hey dude!” he said, totally normal. Not like he’d just tried to hit on Keith.

 

Keith breathed a silent _Thank you_ to whatever powerful entity who had saved him from any more of those sly remarks. The bell rang shrilly as Hunk took his seat. “Hey,” he replied.

 

Any everyone was back to their usual mojo, expect Keith. He was freaking out.

 

Mr. Coran took to the front of the class, the projector already displaying a slide that read, _First Group Project!_ Keith thought the exclamation point was unnecessary; there was nothing exciting about this.

 

“Good morning everyone! I hope everyone enjoyed their first day,” Mr. Coran smiled to the crowd. They groaned in return. He ignored them, and continued, “Today, as you can see, we are going to be starting our first group project. I am sure Mrs. Honerva covered the Great Depression with everyone last year, and starting today, we will be touching on the subject for the next few weeks.”

 

He scanned the crowd of solemn faces before switching the slide, titled _Project Details._ Below its heading was a numbered list. Each described the requirements of the assignment.

 

“You will be working with your group in and out of class to devise a ten page paper covering each of _these,_ ” he swipes his finger over the ten points, “key points. This will be completed by Monday next week. This is a 100 point assignment. Any questions?”

 

Mr. Coran was met with blank stares. He took that as a “no”. “Wonderful! Get to work,” he says, sitting back down at his desk, cracking open a book.

 

Keith swivels back around to face his group. This was the worst possible thing to happen to him. A crucial 100 point assignment to work on with _Lance._ Keith found it very difficult to keep himself from snapping.

 

“So, team,” Lance addressed the group. “Should we divide up the points and each tackle a certain number? Or…,” he let his thought trail off there.

 

“The points won’t be evenly divided,” Pidge pointed out. “Why don’t we work on it paragraph by paragraph?”

 

“That’ll take too long,” Hunk cuts in. “We only have until Monday.”

 

Pidge and Lance nod in agreement. “Yeah, we don’t have time for that,” Pidge says.

 

Keith decided to speak up. “We should split up writing and research. And we are also gonna need to include a bibliography,” he nudges his shoulder towards the board.

 

“The work won’t be even,” Lance comments.

 

“It’s fine,” Keith retorts, a bit to snappy. “We have a lot riding on this assignment, let’s just get it done.”

 

“Okay,” Lance replies, surprised. “Jeez, calm down Gloves.”

 

“Gloves?”

 

“I’ll work on it.”

 

Pidge comes into the conversation. “We can work outside of school too, and just do paragraph by paragraph.”

 

Hunk interjects. “Yeah but we only have until Monday.”

 

“Weekend.”

 

Hunk nods. “Yeah, I’m free.” He looks at Lance. “You are too, right?”

Lance nods slowly. “Yeah, I can make it.” He glances at Keith.

 

“Whadda ‘bout you, Red?”

 

Keith shrugs. “Yeah, I’m good.”

 

“Then that settles it,” Pidge sighs. “We’ll work paragraph by paragraph. Ugh, I can already feel how painful that’s gonna be.”

 

Hunk crosses his arms. “Me too.”

 

“Whatever, at least we have a plan now,” Pidge groans. “We gonna start now?”

 

“That’ll get the work done faster,” Keith says, still not totally onboard with having Lance in his group. He doesn’t know what it is, but something tells him that Lance is probably the person who doesn’t their work in group projects. He hopes for his sake that he isn’t.

 

“Well,” says Pidge, taking out her phone. “Let’s start doing some research.”

* * *

  


They were silent on their phones for the rest of the class period, not speaking a word to each other. At the end, they had all the notes they needed to start writing the following day, Friday. Finally. The weekend was so close Keith could almost feel it.

 

Keith came home immediately after the last bell rang. Luckily, the school was within walking distance, so he could jog. He unlocked the door with the spare keys Kolivan gave him, and went straight upstairs to his room.

 

Kolivan was at work all day until 6pm, when he came home to make dinner and to sleep. Keith only saw him then. He didn’t even see him when he woke up in the morning, Kolivan opting for being out of the house very early.

 

With that being so, he was free to do whatever he liked until Kolivan came home and called him for dinner. He had finished his calculus and AP English homework, and was about to start AP Physics, when his phone beeped.

 

But it wasn’t a text message sort of beep. It wasn’t a message from Pidge. What else could it be? He picks up the phone and looks at the screen, and his heart beats faster.

When he was in his sophomore year, Shiro had been starting to become concerned that Keith wasn’t being social enough. So, to help him get to know his classmates, he convinced Keith to make an Instagram. Ever since he first set it up, he posted nothing, and had 3 followers: Matt, Pidge, and Shiro. Until now.

 

Shining brightly from the notifications bar on his screen, the words, _lance.88.20._ Keith almost threw his phone. Who the everloving fuck-

 

Then he got another beep from his phone. This time it was a text message, from Pidge. He opened it quickly. What he read made him want to stab out his eyes, and maybe Pidge’s too.

 

 **Gremlin:** Oh I hope you don’t mind, but I gave Lance your Insta

 

Keith messaged her back as fast as he could, his fingers flying across the keyboard.

 

 **Keef:** TRAITOR

 

 **Keef:** HE JUST SENT ME A REQUEST

 

 **Gremlin:** Oh

 

 **Gremlin:** I didn’t think he’d actually follow you lol

 

 **Keef:** diDNT THINK

 

 **Keef:** WHAT DO I DO NOW

 

 **Gremlin:** ACCEPT IT DAMMIT

 

 **Gremlin:** It’s that little green button right there next to his name

 

 **Gremlin:** Don’t hit the red one

 

 **Keef:** Pidge I swear to god

 

 **Gremlin:** Just accept it

 

 **Gremlin:** And Hunk’s

 

 **Keef:** You gave him mine too??

 

 **Gremlin:** Yeah

 

 **Gremlin:** Then we can have a group chat and talk about the history project

 

 **Keef:** How about you tell me about your plans the next time you scheme?

 

 **Gremlin:** No can do buddy

 

 **Gremlin:** I scheme alone >:)

 

 **Keef:** Stop

 

 **Gremlin:** Now shut up and go accept it!! And I texted Hunk to follow you, so accept his too

 

 **Keef:** Ugh

 

 **Keef:** Fine

 

 **Gremlin:** Thank you

 

Keith sighed and opened up Instagram, his thumb lingering over the button to accept Lance’s follow request. Finally, he came to his senses and pushed down his finger on the green button, accepting his request. Keith also clicked the button to follow him back.

 

Just as Pidge had said, Hunk sent in a request too. Keith repeated the process from before. Then decided to be a stalker.

 

Not a real one, per say. More like… getting to know his group mates a little more. Yeah. He’ll put it that way. Without hesitation, he clicked on Lance’s profile.

 

His profile photo was him in a Snapchat filter, the heart crown one, to be exact. His name, Lance, was in the name bar, bolded. His Sarahah was linked at the bottom. Below was a _very_ interesting bio:

 

Swimmer #88

Cuban bb

Nyma <3

If you have a dog, you are automatically my friend

 

Keith read it over several times, trying to get it to process. _Who was Nyma?_

 

Whatever. It doesn’t matter. It’s not like he cares about who Lance is/isn’t dating right? Yup. Has absolutely no relevance to him. But what if he just… scrolled through his pictures a bit…

 

Before he could even try, Pidge had formed a group chat, cleverly naming it _i want to die_. She sent her first message.

 

 **pidgeon_holt:** Hello there fellow peers

 

 **pidgeon_holt:** Welcome to a special section of hell I like to call “Group Projects”

 

 **pidgeon_holt:** You guys better pull your weight.

 

 **lance.88.20:** Yeah, yeah

 

 **lance.88.20:** Don’t worry about it Mom

 

 **k_kogane:** I’ve already got all my stuff done

 

 **k_kogane:** I’m in the clear

 

 **pidgeon_holt:** Paragraph and everything?

 

 **lance.88.20:** Wow look at him go

 

 **k_kogane:** No the research

 

 **pidgeon_holt:** Oh

 

 **pidgeon_holt:** Yeah you’re not in the clear

 

 **baking_hunk:** Hello!!

 

 **lance.88.20:** HUNK!!

 **baking_hunk:** :)

 

 **lance.88.20:** Thank you for saving us yet again with your presence

 

 **lance.88.20:** I’ve only been here for 2 minutes and I’m already sick of Mullet :(

 

 **k_kogane:** Excuse me

 

 **k_kogane:** I’m not even saying anything

 

 **lance.88.20:** I can sense you still have your mullet

 

 **lance.88.20:** It’s unsettling

 

 **pidgeon_holt:** Can we PLEASE

 

 **pidgeon_holt:** For the love of all things good and pure in this world (basically Hunk) and my SANITY

 

 **pidgeon_holt:** Get some work done?

 

 **baking_hunk:** Oh jeez

 

 **baking_hunk:** My apologies ma’am

 

 **lance.88.20:** The pidgeon is angry

 

 **pidgeon_holt:** PLEASE

 

 **k_kogane:** Should I send you guys my notes?

 

 **lance.88.20:** Yeah

 

 **baking_hunk:** Let’s all send them over

 

 **pidgeon_holt:** Then we can do the first point’s paragraph now?

 

 **lance.88.20:** Can’t

 

 **lance.88.20:** Got swim practice

 

 **k_kogane:** OK

 

 **k_kogane:** Tonight?

 

 **lance.88.20:** ;)

 

 **lance.88.20:** Sounds like a date <3

 

 **baking_hunk:** Can y’all stop flirting and just send over the notes

 

 **pidgeon_holt:** omfg

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's what I got for now! Next update soon!! 
> 
> Check out my Tumblr to catch up with me: geekstuckinthetrash.tumblr.com


	5. Baseball Caps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance aren't working, and Pidge and Hunk are really done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! This one was my favorite to write so far.

Friday comes in a hazy blur. Keith made himself stay up until 3 am to finish his  AP Physics homework, and was  _ not  _ feeling it the next day. He was pretty sure Lance teased him about almost falling asleep in class, but he didn’t care. Getting home and putting his head on the pillow was the only thing that mattered. 

 

The only thing that happened that day that stuck was a text from Pidge. 

 

**Gremlin:** Meeting up at my place tomorrow at noon for the project. Talked about it during class but you were asleep. Don’t forget

 

Keith groaned, and sunk back into bed. It was 10 am, and he did have time before he had to be there, but it didn’t feel like a lot. He would’ve liked anything else besides going to Pidge’s house to work on the stupid project. Couldn’t they have just done a worksheet and have it over with? 

 

Before he could go back to bed, he heard Kolivan rap at the door. He didn’t wait for the, “Come in,” from Keith before throwing open the door. Kolivan is in a suit, as usual, and had his long, slightly gray hair slicked back. 

 

“Keith, get up,” he orders. Keith doesn’t disobey. 

 

“Shiro can talk to you tonight,” he says, in a strangely robotic voice. “He called this morning to speak with you, but you were asleep.” Kolivan says the last part as if he’d accusing Keith of not being awake. 

 

“He’s going to Skype you tonight,” he finishes. Grabbing the door handle on his way out, he nods at Keith, still in his pajamas. “Get ready, it’s late.” He slams the door shut. 

 

Keith is still, but feeling a flurry of emotions.  _ I finally get to talk to Shiro!  _ He had so much to tell his brother, about how school was, how annoying Kolivan is, about how much he hates history. This is the one thing he’s been aching to do, and he’s finally going to have the chance to do it. 

 

In the excitement, he jumps out of bed, showers, and gets dressed. He grabs his phone and sits back down on his bed, scrolling through the recent messages from the group chat. Pidge, Lance, and Hunk really seem to be getting along. Even to the point of them each sending memes that they find to each other. 

 

Keith didn’t really fit in. He was different from the others, not really liking the same music as them, being as social, or even reading the same books as them. He really only got on with Pidge; they grew up together, their brothers being best friends. Lance and Hunk, however. Keith didn’t know. They were different. New. 

 

Their latest conversation (which just  _ had _ to be on the group chat) was whether or not aliens were real. 

 

**lance.88.20:** OK so aliens right

 

**lance.88.20:** They are so real

 

**lance.88.20:** There is no way that they don’t exist

 

**baking_hunk:** Um excuse you

 

**baking_hunk:** If aliens were real we’d be dead by now

 

**lance.88.20:** That my friend

 

**lance.88.20:** Is not a fact

 

**lance.88.20:** The aliens might not have advanced tech

 

**lance.88.20:** Or just be bacteria

 

**baking_hunk:** Wait bacteria

 

**baking_hunk:** Like brain eating bacteria?

 

**baking_hunk:** What if they make a ship and come to Earth to KILL US ALL?

 

**lance.88.20:** Huh

 

**lance.88.20:** Didn’t really think of it that way

 

Keith smiles at the messages. The group really was bonding together, becoming a group of friends. It was kinda sweet. 

 

Finally, Keith decides that it’s time to eat. He clicks the power button on his phone, and shoves it into his back pocket. Walking out of his room, he jumps down the stairs and to the left, where the kitchen is. The Cinnamon Toast Crunch is on top of the fridge, and he is able to reach the box with ease. 

 

He munches on a few pieces of the cereal as he gets a bowl and milk from the fridge. He pours in the cereal, then the milk, and grabs a spoon. Kolivan has an island in the middle of the kitchen with a few stools, so he sits there and eats, retrieving his phone. He scrolls mindlessly through Instagram, until one post catches his eye. 

 

It’s from Lance, and it’s a picture of him and two girls. The caption, “Gotta love the cheerleaders”, startles him. Keith’s thoughts were something like:  _????  _

 

The two girls were tagged, so he clicks to see who they are. The blonde girl on his left was ny_ny, and the brunette on his right was yo_yo.03. Keith clicks on the blonde girl’s profile in curiosity.

 

Her profile picture was her in pigtails and winged eyeliner. She had almost 5,000 followers, which was insane, considering their school only had 2,000 students. Her bio read:

 

Nyma

Cheer 

Lance <3

Always up for a challenge

 

Looks like Lance had a girlfriend. Not like Keith cares, or anything. Not at all. This couldn’t affect him less. But might as well look through her profile right? Just to get to know her. It’s not a big deal. 

 

So Keith begins to go down a spiral. She had 36 posts, each of them either selfies or pictures of her taken by her friends. The eighth photo was the only different one. It was her and Lance. 

 

Posted in July, he was wearing a white and gray striped shirt, and khaki shorts. He wore a baseball cap backward on his head, and flip flops. He had his arm wrapped around Nyma, who was laughing, in a lemon yellow tank top and shorts. Then Keith noticed. 

 

Lance was kissing the top of her head, smiling widely into her wavy hair. His eyes flitted down to the caption, “My other half <3”, and Keith would be lying if he said his heart didn’t sink a little. OK, Keith admits it to himself. Maybe he did think Lance was a  _ little  _ cute. Just a little bit. Not like breathtakingly beautiful. But cute. Like teddy bear, puppy, kitten cute. The cute you want to hug and kiss and never let go of. 

 

Keith exits her profile before he can go any further down that spiral. The cereal was lying off to the side, forgotten. That’s fine. He wasn’t feeling too hungry anyway. He takes the bowl to the sink, and sits back down on the stool. Keith still has half an hour before he needs to start walking to Pidge’s house. 

 

He goes back to Instagram, and goes to Lance’s profile. Hey, he stopped looking at Nyma’s. He never said he wouldn’t look at Lance’s. His bio and profile picture are the same as before, and there are no new posts besides the one he saw. Starting to scroll, he is careful not to leave a like on any of them. Not even his recent picture. 

 

Each and every picture Keith sees makes him stifle a smile. Lance is always smiling, or laughing, in his pictures. There’s one picture of his head being outlined by the setting sun, with the caption, “Be your own star”, that particularly made Keith smile. Lance had a few with his siblings as well, and that didn’t help at all. He seemed to love little kids. Hey, he even had a picture of him teaching a swim class at their local gym.

 

What Keith noticed, however, was that there was not a single mention of Nyma as his girlfriend anywhere. He never referred to her as his girlfriend, s/o, anything. Weird. Keith can’t linger on that thought for too long, though. He notices the time, and has to go gather his history things and start walking to Pidge’s. He closes and locks the front door after he leaves. 

 

Keith gets to her house with five minutes to spare. He knocks a couple of times on her front door. A crash along with a scream of, “PIDGE!” and a string of curses greeted him as Pidge threw open the door. She had her mouth in a straight line, and looked very done with whatever was going on inside of her house. 

 

“Get inside before the neighbors think I killed someone,” she deadpanned. Keith didn’t need to be told twice. He scooted inside, curious. 

 

“So, uh,” he starts as she walks back to the living room, where all the cursing was. “What’s going on?”

 

She holds open the glass door for him. “See for yourself.”

 

Lance and Hunk were both already there. White and black cards surrounded Lance, who was lying face first onto the creme carpet. Hunk was attempting to clean up the array of cards. 

 

The curses were from Lance, who was very angry about something. It wasn’t clear what, as everything that was audible were just swear words. 

 

Pidge glances at Keith, who’s eyebrows were raised in surprise. “Welcome to hell.”

 

“Is he okay?” Keith whispers, nudging his head towards Lance. 

 

Pidge shakes her head. “Nope. He lost a game of Cards Against Humanity to me. He’s… upset, to say the least.” 

 

Keith nods slightly. Pidge clears her throat, and Lance brings his head up from the carpet. “Oh, hey,” he says. 

 

“You alright dude?” Keith asks. 

 

Lance sits up. “Ask Pidge,” he frowns. 

 

“Dude, let it go!” she claps in between each word. “It’s just a game!”

 

Lance gasps dramatically. “It is not! My life was on the line, Pidge.”

She just rolls her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Lance glared at her, but then began helping Hunk finish picking up the rest of the cards. 

 

“So,” starts Keith, sitting down on the floor next to Hunk, “we gonna work on the project?” 

 

Lance reaches behind him and pulls out his laptop and binder. “Yeah, if we don’t wanna F.” 

 

Pidge grabs her and Hunk’s laptop, both sitting on the couch. She hands over Hunks. Keith gets his out from underneath his binder. Each of them open up their screens, and go onto the shared Google Doc with the assignment. 

 

Keith watches as a blue line dashes all over the screen. He hovers his mouse over it and finds that it is Lance. A green one pops on screen, and he sees that it is Pidge. That must mean the yellow one sitting at the bottom of their most recent paragraph was Hunk. 

 

“Do you guys have all of the sources?” Pidge asks, typing furiously. She was working on her section of the paragraph. Everyone responds with a weak,  _ Yeah,  _ and begin to type them into the bibliography. 

 

Now, the house was eerily quiet. The only noise they heard was the  _ pit-pat  _ of keys being pressed into keyboards. Keith finishes typing in the last of his websites, and glances up, across from him. Lance is staring intently at his screen, the gentle blue glow from the computer illuminating his face. He must’ve grabbed his baseball hat from behind him as well, because it was lying backwards on his head. A few strands of brown hair were visible through the front hole of the hat. It was the same hat from the picture. 

 

Keith’s heart clutches a little, but the pressure is over before he can even tell it began. He’ll get over it, for sure. 

 

Then Lance looks up. He notices Keith’s eyes on him, and paints a smirk on his face. Keith looks down as fast as he can, staring at his keyboard. A few seconds pass, and Keith relaxes. But he isn’t able to relax for long. He feels the gentle vibration of his phone in his jacket pocket.  

 

He looks up at Lance before pulling it out. Lance is grinning at him, hold his phone so Keith can see. He points at it eagerly. Keith squints in confusion, but Lance keeps jabbing at his phone. Keith finally clicks on his phone, and sees the first and only notification, a DM from Lance. It reads:

 

**[k_kogane] lance.88.20: you are so checking me out rn ;)**

 

Keith pulls a hand over his mouth. He shoots daggers at Lance, who was smiling innocently at him, shrugging. Lance goes back to his phone, and starts typing. Keith gets the message seconds later. 

 

**[k_kogane] lance.88.20: you know it kogane**

 

Fine. Lance wants to play this game? Let’s play. Keith unlocks his phone and opens Instagram to his DMs. He shoots Lance a message. 

 

**k_kogane:** I’m not, now shut up and get back to work. 

 

Lance replies quickly. 

 

**lance.88.20:** But I’m done

 

**lance.88.20:** And boreddd

 

**k_kogane:** Can’t you go bother someone else? 

 

**lance.88.20:** No can do, my man

 

**lance.88.20:** Everyone else is still busy

 

**k_kogane:** Ugh

 

**lance.88.20:** Looks like you’re stuck with me ;)

 

**k_kogane:** Stop that

 

**lance.88.20:** Stop what ;)

 

**k_kogane:** That

 

**lance.88.20:** Being super hot and irresistible? Because that is something that I cannot do.

**k_kogane:** No not that

 

**lance.88.20:** So you admit you were checking me out ;)

 

**k_kogane:** Oh my god I was not

 

**lance.88.20:** You sure about that?

 

**lance.88.20:** Because the red on your face says otherwise ;)

 

**k_kogane:** See

 

**k_kogane:** You’re doing the thing again

 

**lance.88.20:** What thing

 

**k_kogane:** The face

 

**lance.88.20:** ;)

 

**lance.88.20:** This?

 

**k_kogane:** Yeah 

 

**k_kogane:** The face thing

 

**lance.88.20:** ;)

 

**k_kogane:** No

 

**lance.88.20:** ;) ;) ;) ;)

 

**k_kogane:** Stop that

 

**lance.88.20:** ;) ;) ;)

 

**lance.88.20:** No ;)

 

Keith glanced at Lance, irritated. He winks in return, and goes back to texting Keith. Pidge lifts her head up from her work, looking back and forth between the two. She suppresses a giggle, and takes out her phone. She texts Hunk:

 

**pidgeon_holt:** These two are really stupid

 

**baking_hunk:** I know right

 

**baking_hunk:** We are literally right in between the them. 

 

**pidgeon_holt:** Honestly

 

**pidgeon_holt:** Do they think we’re stupid or something?

 

Keith stares at his phone. Lance is  _ still typing.  _ Seriously, what could he be typing right now? He looks over to him, and he is typing something. But what? 

 

Then the little bubble that tells you when the other person is typing goes away. Lance stops typing, and clicks off his phone. Keith raises an eyebrow as he and Lance make eye contact. Lance raises an eyebrow in return, mirroring Keith’s expression. 

 

Keith shrugs, and Lance does the same. He combs back his bangs with his fingers, and Lance does the same, taking off his hat first, then putting it back on. Keith catches on to what he’s doing, and buries his face in his hands. He doesn’t have to look at Lance to know he’s copying him. 

 

Keith angrily raises his left hand, lifting his fing- “Oh my god, will you two cute it out?” Pidge’s voice startles both Lance and Keith. Keith and Lance slowly lower their hands as they look at Pidge, who’s arms were crossed. 

 

“Do you guys think we’re blind and deaf or something?” She throws her hands up in the air, rolling her eyes. “Hunk and I’ve been watching you two have at it for the past ten minutes. Seriously, are you guys, like, five or something?” 

 

Keith is dumbfounded. He really didn’t know what to say to her. Lance cuts in. “I’m sorry that Mullet over here was  _ checking me out. _ ” 

 

Keith pushes two fingers against his eyebrow, exasperated. “I was  _ not  _ checking you out.” 

 

Lance closes the lid of his laptop slightly. “Oh yeah? Then what’d you call staring at me from across the group, with such a longing expression on your face?” 

 

Hunk raises his head from his fist. “Oh my god Keith. You were checking him out.” 

 

Keith opens his mouth. “I was not! I was just trying to read what Lance’s hat said,” he lied.

 

Lance shakes his head. “All lies. You were looking at me for my hot bod, and you know it.”

 

Keith sighs. “I’m not even going to argue anymore. I’m so done.”

 

Lance laughs, and points a finger at Keith. “See! You admit it! You  _ were  _ checking me out.” 

 

Keith rolls his eyes. “Whatever lets you sleep at night.” 

 

Hunk and Pidge have a silent conversation with their eyes, and come to an agreement. They both loved the banter between these two (it would make a great rom-com) but they had 100 points on the line right now. The rom-com would have to wait. 

 

Hunk claps his hands together. “OK, can we please get back to the project now?” 

 

“Please,” Pidge says, “I want to live to see next week.”

 

Keith and Lance murmur in reluctant agreement. But they continue to steal looks and glances at each other throughout the three hours they spent working. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm going to publish new chapters every week, or every 2-3 days, depending on the length. Let me know if you guys want longer or shorter chapters.
> 
> Keep up with me on tumblr: geekstuckinthetrash.tumblr.com


	6. Skype

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith talks to Shiro for the first time after he left.

The project was finished quickly, even though Lance had to leave early for swim practice. Overall, they each thought they had put together a pretty solid paper. It was Pidge Guaranteed™ to get them an A. 

 

After Lance left, the energy in the room died down a lot. Everyone was focused, and no longer distracted by his sarcastic comments and offhanded jokes. The last paragraph was typed, and Keith and Hunk said their goodbyes before leaving. 

 

Keith unlocked the front door a little too eagerly. His footsteps echoed throughout the house as he raced up the stairs, almost tripping on the last step. He bursts through his bedroom door, and plugs in his laptop on the bed. 

 

He taps at the side of the laptop with his thumb nervously as it boots up. Keith begins debating things to say to Shiro. What should he even say to him? 

 

The computer screen lights up, and Keith types in his password with shaking fingers, then clicks on the Skype icon at the bottom of the screen. The light blue contrasted greatly to the picture of a volcano as his desktop background. The “S” spun around for a few seconds, then displayed his contacts. Keith quickly taps on Shiro’s contact, the green dot visible. He smiles widely.

 

Fingers shaky, he begins to type out a text, hitting “enter” triumphantly when the message is complete. 

 

**k_kogane:** You up?

 

He doesn’t have to wait long for a reply. In seconds, Shiro replies. 

 

**shiro_lion:** Yeah. 

 

**shiro_lion:** Video chat? 

 

**k_kogane:** Please. 

 

The Skype ringtone plays just as he send the message. He answers his brother’s call eagerly, excited to see his face again. Shiro’s face pops up on screen. He’s wearing a camouflage patterned outfit, in the middle of a large room. Keith can’t see much behind him, it’s dark. Shiro is illuminated by his computer screen, beaming. 

 

“Hey Keith,” he says. 

 

Keith smiles just as wide back. “Hey.”

 

Shiro laughs a little, then after seeing the puzzled look on Keith’s face, says, “It feels weird. Talking to you through a computer from halfway across the world rather than face to face.” 

 

Keith nods his head. “Yeah, it’s pretty weird.”

 

They sat in silence for about a minute, just taking in that they really were talking to each other, that this wasn’t fake, or a dream. He really was talking to his brother. 

 

Shiro finally broke the silence. “How’s school going?” 

 

Keith groaned, and Shiro laughed. “That bad huh?”

 

“It’s okay, but there’s this one guy who just…,” he brushes back his bangs before resuming. “He really gets on my nerves.” 

 

“What class?”

 

“AP World History.” 

 

“With Mr. Coran?” 

 

“Yep,” Keith responds, popping the “p”.

 

“Ouch.”

 

“Didn’t you have him?” Keith asks. 

 

“Mhmm,” Shiro says, switching positions so now he’s sitting with his legs crossed. “Was a weird guy, but you learn a lot from him over the year.” 

 

Keith scoffs. “Yeah right. All he’s having us do right now is group projects and essays.” 

 

“Trust me, it gets better.”

 

They sit in a tense silence again, before Shiro remembers something. “Oh yeah! What’s with this guy that’s making your life oh so difficult?” 

 

Keith rolls his eyes. “Ugh. Him. His name’s Lance, and he’s in my group. He’s so  _ insufferable,  _ honestly I don’t know how Hunk even puts up with him.”

 

“Hunk?”

 

Keith waves his hand. “His best friend.” 

 

“Oh.”

 

“Yeah, so that’s fun,” Keith sighs. 

 

“Is he lance.88.20?” Shiro asks suddenly, grinning as Keith gapes at him, trying to form a sentence but stuttering over the words. 

 

“That’s not- howdoyou- stop checking my- Shironoonesaiditwashim,” he sputters, attempting to tell his brother off. Shiro just grins even wider with satisfaction. 

 

“So it is him huh? And by the looks of it,” he scrolls down and stares at something on his screen. “He’s pretty hot.”

 

At this point, Keith was genuinely considering hanging up on his brother, and disowning him. But, his moral side clicked in, and he decided against it. “No he’s not,” Keith murmurs. “Stupid baseball caps, and rolling up his sleeves, and his pretty smile-” he claps a hand over his mouth after realizing what he said. Shiro chuckles. 

 

“So, you  _ do  _ like him, don’t you?” Shiro smiles knowingly back at Keith. He knows the answer to this question, but he needs to hear it come out of Keith’s mouth. 

 

“No,” Keith says, his voice muffled by the sleeve of his jacket. 

 

“Keith,” Shiro draws out his name. “Lying isn’t good.”

 

“Fine,” Keith bursts out. “I think he’s just a  _ little  _ cute.” He looks at the screen to make sure Shiro is listening. “Happy?”

 

Shiro nods affirmatively. “Very.”

 

Keith sighs. “Now, what’s it like out there? How’s Matt?”

 

“Matt and I are alright. It’s pretty hot over here. We’ve been doing mainly drills and stuff to prepare us in case of emergency. Nothing really interesting has happened so far.” 

 

“Nothing?”

 

“Nope,” Shiro replies. “Just eat, sleep, train, repeat.”

 

“That sucks.”

 

“Better than being out there,” Shiro jabs his thumb behind him. 

 

Shiro can tell he hit a sore spot. Keith purses his lips together, and looks away. 

 

“Keith?”

 

Keith turns his head back to he can see his brother. 

 

“I promised you I’d come back in one piece. That’s a promise I’ll die trying to keep.” It takes Shiro a couple of seconds to realize his mistake. “Wait no I mean-”

 

But he and Keith are both already laughing. Not just little giggles. Laughs that require you to inhale deeply, inflating yourself with air. The kind you have to clutch your stomach for. The kind that hurts. 

 

“Sh-Shiro,” Keith says in between breaths. “That-That’s not right.”

 

Shiro and Keith take a few seconds to calm down. Shiro lets out one last laugh before speaking again. “Sorry. You know what I mean.”

 

“Yeah. Yeah I do.”

 

Before Keith can keep talking, he hears the murmur of voices on Shiro’s end. Shiro turns away to listen. They are silent for a few seconds, and he hears Shiro say, “Yes sir!” before turning back to him. 

 

“I gotta go,” Shiro says sadly. “I’ll text you when I’m free, okay?”

 

Keith just nods. 

 

“Alright. See you soon.”

 

“Bye,” Keith says softly, as the call cuts off. He slowly closes the lid of the computer, and sits alone in the room, gathering himself, telling himself Shiro will be okay, before grabbing his phone and texting Pidge. 

 

**Keef:** I just talked to Shiro. 

 

**Gremlin:** And I just talked to Matt. 

 

**Keef:** How is he?

 

**Gremlin:** Same as Shiro, probably. 

 

**Gremlin:** Tired and really bored

 

**Keef:** At least they’re bored

 

**Keef:** Better than getting shot at 

 

**Gremlin:** Guess you’re right

 

**Gremlin:** We’re all done with the project right?

 

**Keef:** Yeah. You just need to turn the Google Doc into Google Classroom

 

**Gremlin:** Ok

 

**Gremlin:** I’ll do that now

 

Pidge didn’t respond after that. She was quiet the rest of the night, probably talking with some of her closer friends. Keith spent the rest of the day studying, as he had an English test on Monday. 

 

Kolivan came home when he expected him to, 6 pm sharp. He didn’t have a conversation with Keith the rest of the evening. He didn’t even ask about Shiro. Keith was mad at him for that, for not asking how his nephew was doing. But he didn’t expect him to ask anyway, so it wasn’t that heavy a disappointment. 

 

Keith went to bed that night staring at his ceiling, studying the blank white paint. Thinking. About Shiro. About school. About Lance. 

 

Why did everything always go back to him? It wasn’t even like his thoughts were related to each other. One second he would be thinking about his word roots in English, the next he’d be thinking about Lance’s smile. Seriously, this isn’t okay. Whatever was making him think about him let him go to sleep faster than usual, however,so maybe it might not be a bad thing after all. 

* * *

 

“OK, everything’s done right?” Pidge’s eyes scanned her group. They all nodded in affirmation. Pidge clapped her hands together. “Wonderful. Now we better get an A or I swear I will actually stab one of you with a plastic knife.”

 

“Hm,” Lance says, “Painful way to die.”

 

“Precisely.”

 

Her eyes drifted over to Keith, who had barely said a word all period. They locked eyes for a split second,  long enough for Keith to shake his head slightly. She opened her mouth to say something. He wasn’t feeling too good after yesterday.

 

You’d think he’d be feeling a lot better, after talking to his brother and confirming that he’s still alive. But no. He was feeling dread, like any second Iverson was going to walk in, call Keith outside, and tell him Shiro was dead. 

 

Pidge’s eyes gleamed with understanding, and she closed her mouth. Unfortunately, Lance took notice. 

 

“What’s up with you, Mullet?” he asks in a joking tone, nodding his head towards Keith. “You seem more… Pete Wentz than usual.” 

 

Keith sighs, and shrugs. “Nothing.”

 

Lance leans back in his seat. “Really? Nothing? Doubt that. Probably some band broke up or something.” Keith resists the urge to punch him. 

 

“Yeah. Nothing. Now can you shut up about it?” Keith snaps. Lance shoots forward, surprised. 

 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asks, in a softer voice. “You wanna talk?”

 

Keith was going to let his fist fly when Pidge cleared her throat. “Lance, could you, uh, lay off Keith,” she says, “He’s fine, trust me.”

 

Lance looks from her to Keith, and nods in understanding. “Alright,” he breathes. “Sorry, Mullet.”

 

Keith purses his lips together and wrings his hands. “‘S okay,” he mumbles back. 

 

“So have the two toddlers apologized and everything now?” Hunk says. Lance glares at him, and the bell sounds.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, sorry that took so long. School and the project got me very busy. Hope you liked the chapter! More coming soon!
> 
> Tumblr: geekstuckinthetrash.tumblr.com


	7. Lemonade and Crop Tops

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s time for Halloween costume making!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long!

The weeks pass, and the stress has just begun to pile up.

Just until April, Keith kept telling himself. Then you’ll know which college you got into, and you can finally stop dealing with all of this bullshit.

History was just getting harder. Even though they worked in groups a majority of the time, Mr. Coran still assigned notes and a lot of worksheets for homework each night. Studying for tests was a nightmare.

Even so, Keith, Lance, Pidge, and Hunk had bonded together. They formed their own little friend group, which was slowly starting to not be just an “in school” friend group. Surprisingly, Keith liked it. He’d never really been close to people, this close, or this many, before and it was a new feeling he was liking. Maybe senior year wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

It was the beginning of October, and the school was buzzing with excitement over Halloween. Almost everyone in their town loved the holiday, getting to dress up and go door to door for treats. The teenagers loved throwing huge parties, drinking and dancing. It was that time of year, and Keith was dreading it.

Pidge and Hunk had been talking nonstop since mid-September about what they were going to do for Halloween. Once Hunk had proposed a group costume, it was Pidge and Hunk on Google, trying to find the best idea for them. They once spent an entire hour when they were supposed to be working on a project to look up group halloween costumes.

Of course, they didn’t ask either Lance or Keith if they were on board with the plan, but Keith couldn’t tell if Lance minded or not. He always smiled and encouraged them, and occasionally gave ideas. Keith was the opposite.

He already hated Halloween. Scary movies and costumes were never really his cup of tea. Now, a group costume? Count him out. But, when you have friends like Pidge and Hunk, you don’t really have a choice.

It was a rainy afternoon, on October 16, in Hunk’s kitchen. They were supposed to be working on a tri-fold board on the Mesopotamian civilization, but instead were watching Hunk bake cookies and discussing Halloween costume ideas.

“What about a bunch of emojis?” Lance mumbled, tracing a cookie with his finger. Pidge shook her head, and tapped on the counter.

“No, that’s so lame. Ugh, I can’t think of anything,” she replies, exasperated.   
  
Hunk slides another batch of chocolate crinkle cookies into the oven. “We could go as different types of cookies.”

“Meh,” Lance says, looking up from the half eaten cookie he was playing with. “We need something… new. Original.”

“Do you understand how hard that is?” Pidge says, her pace of tapping getting faster on the granite counter. “We’ll never have costumes in time.”

Lance turns his head around to Keith, who’s the only one who is working on the board. He’s at the kitchen table, using a glue stick to add the lettering to the board. His black mullet is pulled back with a scarlet hair tie. His bangs fall in front of his face, just letting a few glints of sunlight from the window dance off of his eyes. The violet-blue color is startling, even in such a small quantity. He purses his lips tight. The light gray t-shirt falls gently around his frame, and his skinny arms move thin hands around the board. Keith doesn’t notice Lance’s gaze.

Lance smiles at him, staring for a few seconds, before speaking. “Hey,” he says, nodding his head at Keith. He looks up. “Any Halloween costume ideas, Red?” Keith shakes his head.

“No,” he replied bluntly, and goes back to his letters.

“C’mon,” Lance whines. “I know you have an idea somewhere in that brain of yours.”

Keith sighs, because he was right. If he had to do something for Halloween, he would want to be a paladin from a television show he liked when he was younger, Voltron. He and Shiro would watch it when they couldn’t play outside, or go biking. It would be cold and rainy, or one of them would be sick, and they’d sit on the couch and watch the show’s reruns. It was super old, from sometime in the 80’s, but that didn’t make them like it any less.

“I got something, I guess,” Keith finally says, smoothing down the final letter. “The paladins of Voltron from this really old show.” He caps the glue stick and shrugs, shaking his head. “You know what? It’s not that good nevermind-”

He doesn’t get to finish his thought. Lance cuts him off, beaming. “Mullet! You’re a genius! We should totally do that.”

Lance turns back to face Pidge and Hunk, who are nodding in agreement. “Keithy boy over here does have a point,” Pidge says, popping a small piece of a freshly baked cookie in her mouth. Keith rolls his eyes at her, and she winks.

“Keithy boy... ,” Lance says airily, speaking to himself. “That’s a new one.”

“I mean, we got all the right colors and everything,” Hunk adds, washing the dishes. “We can all take a color, and make an armor set from that.”

Lance nods. “Yup.” Suddenly, he shoots his hand into the air, jumping from the force. “I call blue!”

Pidge’s hand goes up next. “Green!”

Hunk. “Yellow!”

They all look at Keith, who’s leaning on the counter next to Lance. “I guess I’m red.”

“How fitting,” Lance says, bringing his hand back down so he can rest his arm against the counter.

“Haha.”

“So it’s decided then?” Hunk says.

Each of them look at the others. “Yeah, I guess it’s decided,” Pidge concludes. She sighs. “I guess we better do our project then, huh?”

“I finished,” Keith tells her.  
“Your part?”

“All of it.”

“Oh.”

* * *

 

They plan vigorously their costumes over the next two weeks. Pidge found out that no, they could not make actual armor, and would have to settle for t-shirts with the Voltron “V” on them, in their corresponding colors. Lance had to bully Pidge into this, as the foam board armor “wasn’t something I could let the paparazzi see me in”.

Lance bought some generic white t-shirts from Wal-Mart, and handed them out. Keith brought some old fabric markers he had, and they all spent another study session designing their shirts.

Pidge decided she was going to make hers into a tank top, and cut off the sleeves. Hunk cut tassels at the bottom of his and tied knots, and Lance accidently cut his too short and made it a crop top. Keith didn’t know what to do with his. He couldn’t think of any way to make it his own.

Keith was staring at the shirt, the red “V” shining brightly against the white fabric, hoping that maybe if he stared at it for just long enough, it would become the perfect shirt. Lance saw him, as he came back from the bathroom. Keith didn’t notice him peering over his shoulder.

“Can’t figure it out?” Lance says, startling Keith. He flinches, and turns around.

Lance smirks, and sits down next to Keith. “Lemme help you out.” Keith nods slightly, holding his breath.

Lance looks at the shirt for a few seconds, thinking. Then, in sudden movements, he pick it up and hold it against Keith’s frame. Keith doesn’t dare breathe. He sits rigid, unmoving. Lance pulls the shoulders of the shirt to Keith’s, and smooths it down with his right hand. Staring intently at the fabric, he begins to stretch and fold the fabric at different places.

Keith doesn’t move. He can’t move. For several reasons. 1. This feels really violating someone send help. 2. Lance is helping me make a shirt. Oh. My. God.

He begins to debate with himself whether he should let Lance do whatever he was doing, or scoot away, or- Too late. Lance pushes a hand flat against his chest, so he can pull back and get scissors from behind him. When he turns back, his deep blue eyes met Keith’s.

“Mind if I-,” he snips the scissors once in the air.

Keith breathes for the first time in what felt like forever. “Sure. I trust you,” he gasps. That was a lie, but he couldn’t do anything now that Lance was starting to cut. And cut. And cut.

The scissors moved through the fabric like water, snipping off what seemed like random pieces of cotton fabric. They moved across his midriff, over and over again. Then, Lance took the collar of the shirt and stretched it best he could, and put it back up to Keith. He cut from the top of the right shoulder down at an angle to meet the left.

Finally, when Lance felt satisfied by his work, he sighed and put down the scissors. “All done!” he exclaims, and takes the shirt from Keith’s chest. He turns it around so Keith can see. “What do you think?”

This was the first time Keith was able to get a good look at the shirt, and he was… surprised, to say the least. It was a crop top, like Lance’s, but not as short. It was much looser around the bottom compared to what he remembered, and two pieces of fabric were left a little longer at the right side, for a small knot. The shoulders were angled, so Keith’s left shoulder would be exposed. Overall, somewhere deep down, Keith was impressed.

“Damn,” was all he could say. He took it from Lance, who was giddy. He ran his hand along the fabric, like it had somehow been transformed from Cinderella’s rags into a magnificent ball gown. Which is a weird thing to say, since it was just a $5 shirt from Wal-Mart.

“Go try it on!” Lance urges, his knees bouncing as he sat criss-cross on the floor. “Please?”

Pidge and Hunk, who had already finished their shirts, were sitting behind Lance on the couch. Hunk wasn’t paying much attention, texting someone on his phone. Pidge, on the other hand, gave two thumbs up to Keith.

Keith shook his head, but smiled, and shrugged. “Sure. I’ll be right back.” He shuts the bathroom door, and locks it behind him.

Slipping the shirt on felt weird. It felt odd not to have his shoulders or his stomach covered by something. He didn’t get a good look at himself until he tied the knot at his side. Placing his hands on his hips, he looks up at himself in the small bathroom mirror.

At this time, Damn was an appropriate response. The shirt was cut perfectly. It didn’t seem too loose or tight, and the fabric sat nicely on his skinny frame. If Keith had to be totally honest, he kinda digging the look. Experimenting, he took the black hair tie that was around his wrist and tied his hair back into a ponytail. He liked it so much he decided it was finally time to go out and show his friends.

Taking a few deep breaths, he pulled the lock on the door, and twisted the knob so the door opened wide. Flicking off the lights, he slowly dragged himself out from around the bathroom door and down the short hallway to where his friends were sitting.

They had been chatting amongst themselves when Keith walked in. Quickly, the room was overwhelmed with hoots.

“YOU LOOK HOT,” Pidge yelled, throwing her arms up in the air. “Finally I don’t feel ashamed that I know you.”

Keith gave her the finger, then turned to Hunk, who was clapping. Wiping a fake tear from his eye, he began to fan himself with his other hand. “I can’t believe I’ve seen an actual angel.”

Keith smiles at him, then locks eyes with Lance. He’s still sitting criss-cross on the floor, but now he’s leaning back on his hands, which are spread on the ground behind him. “You don’t look half bad.” His grin is the smallest, and the shyest, out of the group, but Keith thinks his takes the cake.

“You did a good job,” Keith croaks, then clears his throat. “Thanks.”

Lance stands up, the smile still on his face, and pushes back a loose strand of black hair out of Keith’s face. “That’s what I’m here for, right?” The contact lasts less than a second but it almost makes Keith faint.

He then struts to the kitchen counter, shouting behind him, “Anyone else thirsty?” Pidge and Hunk got up to follow, Keith cemented in place. At least until Pidge stood on the tips of her toes to whisper, “Someone certainly is,” into Keith’s ear and wink. Then he was able to snap out of it and give Pidge and punch in the shoulder, as they each grabbed a glass of lemonade. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took wayy too long. Was on vacation this past week and school has been trying to kill me :/ 
> 
> Keep up with me on Tumblr: geekstuckinthetrash.tumblr.com
> 
> Instagram: jenna.k.j


	8. You're Such a Roller Coaster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang goes to Halloween Haunt for Halloween.

Halloween came around way too quickly for Keith’s liking. He’d been wrapping up an English paper when he got the text. 

 

**pidgeon_holt:** You guys ready for tomorrow?

 

Silently, he swore. His eyes flicked up to the date and time at the top of his laptop.  _ Thursday, October 30.  _ Sure, he was kind of excited for getting dressed up. Maybe for seeing Lance in the crop top too. But he was not ready for the theme park. He shivered at the thought. 

 

Their local theme park, Desert Adventures, was doing their yearly “Halloween Haunt” and Halloween night was advertised as, “The SCARIEST Night of The Year!”. Pidge used to go every year with Matt when they were younger, and they both loved it. Shiro would tag along too, but Keith could never bring himself to go. He was not a big fan of horror. At all. Anything eve mildly scary he would avoid at all costs. The worst part of it all was that the group had even agreed to do the haunted house. Great. 

 

They had offered to try something else, maybe take Lance’s nieces and nephews trick or treating, but Keith told them it was okay. This year, he was going to have to suck it up and go to the stupid amusement park. For the past week, he’d been trying to keep himself calm.  _ It isn’t real. Everything is fake. Not a real zombie. Not a real axe-murderer. Everything is going to be fine. _

 

An incoming text from Hunk brought him out of it. 

 

**baking_hunk:** Been ready since Monday

 

Keith finishes the sentence he was typing, then closes his laptop. Pushing it off of his lap, he picks up his phone. 

 

**k_kogane:** Praying that I don’t die

 

**baking_hunk:** You’ll be fineee

**lance.88.20:** Is someone 

 

**lance.88.20:** SCAREDD???

 

**pidgeon_holt:** ;)

 

**k_kogane:** I’m not scared!

 

**lance.88.20:** mmm

 

**pidgeon_holt:** You sure about that buddy??

 

**baking_hunk:** ;)

 

**k_kogane:** Stop with the faces

 

**lance.88.20:** ;) ;) ;)

 

**baking_hunk:** ;) ;) ;) ;)

 

**pidgeon_holt:** ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) 

 

**k_kogane:** Why am I still here?

* * *

The day Keith had been dreading finally arrived: Halloween. His classes went by in a blur, much to his disappointment. He would much rather be spending that night in one of Iverson’s physics lectures than going to a Haunt.

The kids in his school didn’t really care much for dressing up; they were only celebrating as an excuse to throw a party. The hallways were buzzing with prediciations about what was going to happen at these parties. All of which Keith was not invited to. 

They met up for the Haunt at Hunk’s house. It was grand, with a large foyer and living room with plush couches. Keith was impressed. 

“Everyone got their shirts?” Pidge asked, after they had settled on some of the couches. Lance unzipped his red jacket slightly to show the top of his shirt underneath. Keith held up his backpack, and Hunk was already wearing his (so was Pidge). 

“Awesome,” Pidge said, “And Lance you got…,” she pauses for a second, her eyes darting over to Keith for a split second. “ _ The goods? _ ”

“The goods?” Lance said, then pulls out a pen and a compact from his jacket pocket. “You know it.”

“What goods are you two talking about?” Keith wondered aloud. “A pen? What is it a sword or something like in Percy Jackson.”

“Man, those movies sucked,” Hunk shook his head. 

“Read the books!” Pidge said excitedly. “Really good series.”

“Oh? Yeah I’ll check it out.”

“Um, hello?” Lance waved a hand. “Yeah are we gonna get on with it or do you two nerds wanna stay here the whole night gushing about how hot Leo is?”

Pidge rolled her eyes. “Whatever,” she huffed under her breath. She took the compact from Lance’s hands and opened it. She smiled at the contents, and a puff of something flew into the air when she closed it. Keith prayed that it was just dust and not drugs. 

“Alright, who’s first?” Pidge said, stretching out her right arm. 

“First for what?” Keith asked, almost certain that he was part taking in some drug deal.

“Ah,” Lance said, leaning further into his side of the couch. “Glad you asked, Red.” He looked over to Pidge. “We got our first volunteer.” 

Pidge smiled evilly. “Excellent,” she hissed, quickly uncapping the pen to reveal… eyeliner. 

“Are you guys going to try and put eyeliner on me?” Keith almost yelled. “There’s no way in hell I’m letting you even try.”

“Oh, you’re gonna do it,” Pidge said nonchalantly, now testing the pen on the top of her left hand. 

Keith scoffs, and crosses his arms. “What makes you say that?” 

Hunk stands up, his phone screen displaying something. He walks confidently over to Keith, and positions himself and the phone so Lance can’t see it. “This is what’s gonna let us.”

Keith’s eyes widen. It was a picture of Keith looking at Lance,  _ blushing.  _ It was taken that day when they were working on the first group project Mr. Coran had assigned them, and Lance and Keith were texting each other. Hunk had noticed the two making googly eyes at each other and snapped a picture to send to Pidge. The perfect blackmail. 

“Now that shit’s soft,” Hunk whispered, low enough for Lance not to hear. Keith caught a glimpse of Lance over Hunk, texting someone. Nyma, it must’ve been. He was smiling, and pushing back the same strand of hair over and over again, just as he does when he’s nervous. Keith shakes himself out of it. 

“Fine, I’ll do the damn eyeliner,” he grinds his teeth. 

“Oh, and the highlighter,” Pidge now swatching the highlighter on her hand. “We got a deal?”

“Hardly a deal,” Keith mutters, “But fine, do whatever.”

Pidge and Hunk share a grin, and Pidge gets to work. She uses her expert hand and is able to get two small flicks of black liquid eyeliner over both of Keith’s eyelids. Then, using her index finger, she pats on the rose gold highlighter onto his cheekbones. The whole thing takes less than 3 minutes. 

“All done!” she exclaims in an overly sweet voice. “You look so,” she dabs a bit on highlighter on the tip of Keith’s nose. “cute!” 

Keith comes up with a bunch of other words to describe the situation other than “cute”, but doesn’t share them. He instead pulls back his hair into a ponytail with a red hair tie, and goes to the bathroom to change his shirt. He doesn’t try to look at himself in the mirror. He knows he looks ridiculous. 

When he comes out, Lance had on eyeliner and highlighter too, but his is an icy blue. It’s striking against his warm caramel skin. It also bridged over his nose, taking up his cheeks and the bridge of his nose. Pidge was taking a white liquid eyeliner from Hunk and testing it when Keith came out of the bathroom. 

“AHH YOU LOOK YOU GOOD!!” Pidge squealed, very un-Pidge like. Hopefully Keith got the old, don’t-look-at-me-or-i-will-kill-you-and-your-family, Pidge back soon. 

“Dude, the highlighter is,” Hunk commented, then adding the “OK” sign with his fingers for extra effect. 

Lance was the last one to turn around. When he did, it felt as if it was in slow motion. Keith’s limbs started to feel like lead, his shirt feeling way too light for his lead-heavy frame. Lance’s eyes started from Keith’s ratty converse and slowly climbed upward until they met his eyes. “You look cool,” was his comment on Keith’s outfit, along with another one of his winning smiles. “Not so bad, Red.”

Keith took a gulp of air. “Thanks,” he breathed. Then he felt that he should compliment him back so he added, “You look pretty neat too. I like y-your highlighter.” Looking back, and in the moment, Keith knew this was a super lame move. It took a lot of self control not to hide in the bathroom for the rest of eternity.

“Thanks,” Lance replied, then turned back to face Pidge, who started to add white dots and crosses across the blue. Keith was zipping his shirt back into his backpack when Hunk slipped to his side. 

“You’re lucky that the highlighter hides your blush,” Hunk whispers. Keith shivers, and sends him a dirty look. Hunk back up sassily, and sends him a two fingered salute in return. Just when he thought he was in the clear, Hunk’s voice rings out. 

“Hey, we should add the stars on Keith too!” he suggests smugly. He and Pidge share and look, and she nods her head vigorously. 

“Wow, Hunk! You’re a genius!” she says in a voice overflowing with fake surprise. “What a good idea!” She winks at Keith, who really was rethinking the not-staying-in-the-bathroom thing. 

“Go ahead,” he sighs, and let’s his head fall to the back of the couch. In an instant, Pidge is standing over his head, dabbing more highlighter across his nose and adding the “stars” with the white eyeliner. 

In what felt like seconds, the finally star had been drawn, and Keith felt the pressure of the brush lifted from his skin. He brought up his head quickly, looking into the dirty mirror in the compact. Even though this entire thing may have been blackmail, he was pretty happy with how it turned out. Pidge really had been able to make it look like the stars were dancing across his skin. “Thanks,” he said quickly, snapping the compact shut. 

“Dude, we’re matching now!” a voice next to him pointed out. Keith had totally forgot Lance was next to him. He turned to face him, and  _ wow.  _ If Keith thought his makeup looked cool, he had to admit a thousand times over that Lance’s looked much better. 

Lance was smiling brightly at him, his sweatshirt now off. The gentle lights in the living room made his hair glow slightly golden, and his eyes twinkle and glimmer like sunlight hitting the ocean waves. Hunk was right, the highlighter did a great job of hiding his blush, and he was  _ extremely  _ grateful for that now. 

“Can you two stop staring at each other?” Pidge broke the silence. “Let’s go!”

_Well, fuck._

* * *

Hunk drove them to Desert Adventures in his dad’s old pickup. Lance sat shotgun, and Pidge and Keith were in the back. During the entire drive there, Pidge made a point of annoying Keith to no end, whether that be poking him or continuously asking if they were there yet. Keith was grateful when they pulled into the park’s parking lot, because one more second in that hell truck with Pidge and he would’ve killed her. 

But pulling up also meant that what was probably going to be the worst night of his life had begun. The front entrance of the park displayed a creepy purple aura, and the gates were decorated as if it were a cemetary. Chains hung from either side, and two skeletons were on either side of the wrought iron. Keith wasn’t sure if he’d be able to drag himself through there. Unfortunately, the ticket line wasn’t long, and they were able to get tickets and pass security in a breeze. Now Keith was left to the mercy of Desert Adventures Halloween Haunt. 

“What do we do first?” Hunk asked the group. 

Pidge was practically flying by how fast she was jumped up and down. “Scare Coaster!” she shouted excitedly. 

“Uh…,” Keith tried to butt in, maybe suggest they do something smaller first, like one of the rides on the kiddy side of the park. Sadly, the others seemed all for it, and began to sprint in the direction of the Scare Coaster. 

The Scare Coaster was the largest roller coaster at Desert Adventures. During the rest of the year, it’s still called the Scare Coaster, because it has one of the steepest drops in the state. People from all over came around just to ride this roller coaster. Why anyone would want to voluntarily go on that thing was beyond Keith, and he stared at the large drop the whole way into the line. 

At least this time, someone in the heavens was rooting for Keith. The line for the Scare Coaster was pretty long. It was going to be a half hour wait, at least. He breathed out a sigh of relief, and began to relax against a railing. Generic creepy music played while they waited, faded in the background over the voices of other people. Keith was about to take out his earphones and phone when Lance leaned on the railing next to him. 

“Hey, Mullet,” he said. “Enjoying the party?” 

Keith rolls his eyes in annoyance, but the small smile on his face argues with it. “Not much of a party.”

“Maybe not right now,” Lance pushes himself up so he can sit on the metal rod. “But after that roller coaster it’s gonna be insane.”

Keith purses his lips. He has no idea if he’ll even survive the drop. It was way too high up, goes way too fast, and has a way too high chance of death for Keith’s liking. He crosses his arms, and taps his thumb against his arm. 

“You okay, dude?” Lance asks, suddenly. His tone had changed drastically. Before it was loud and happy, now it was sad and concerned. Lance was a really good actor. 

“Fine,” Keith responds, his response not having the snap he wanted it too. 

“You sure?” Lance dragged out the last “-re” sound, and leaned closer to Keith. “You seem kinda nervous.”

“Me? Nervous?” Keith laughed a fake laugh. “Never.”

“Liar,” Lance whispered, low enough for neither Pidge or Hunk to hear. They were too busy arguing over AI or something. “You drum a beat when your nervous.”

Keith froze. “How do you know that?”

“I notice things.”

Keith scoffs. “Great.”

Their conversation quieted down. The yells of Pidge and Hunk over took them, and they both watched them for a few minutes. Then Lance pulled out his phone. 

“Selfie?” he asked, shaking his phone a little side to side in Keith’s direction. 

He shook his head. “I don’t do that well in photos.” 

Lance opens the front camera anway. “C’mon, just this once.”

He was really pushing at Keith’s buttons. At this point, however, the night couldn’t get any worse. He’s here, so he might as well. Keith scoots a closer to Lance, now only inches apart. He tenses at the almost-contact, but forces himself to relax. Keith taps a beat with his thumb on his thigh. 

The camera loads, and Lance puts his arm around Keith’s neck. At this, Keith isn’t able to relax. He doesn’t know if Lance notices or not. Before he can assess whether he should go completely through with this, Lance is telling him to smile. The flash goes off when Keith is barely able to make a small smile. 

“Awesome,” Lance comments, opening the photo. “Check us out!”

He shows the phone screen to Keith. It takes Keith’s eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness, but the picture he sees was… unexpected. He thought it would be something truly out of a horror film; his hair flying in his face, makeup smeared, a look of confusion. Instead, he was pleasantly surprised. Turns out quickly lifting up both sides of his mouth and showing his teeth slightly did a lot to improve his appearance. 

The small galaxy across both of their faces is what stood out the most, however. The glitter in the highlighter sparkled in the light from the flash. Both of their eyes had a gleam in them, their hair shiny. It was a pretty decent picture. Keith had to keep himself from looking at Lance for too long, even though he clearly was the prettiest part of the picture. 

“Wow,” Keith said lamely. “Nice photo.”

“Right?!” Lance takes his phone back, then stops. “You want me to send it to you?” 

Keith shrugged. “Sure, I guess.”

Lance pressed a few buttons. Keith turned back to face the other railing, where Pidge was ripping off Hunk’s head, but Lance’s phone was back in his face. It was an open text message, the receiver part empty. Keith raised an eyebrow at Lance. 

“Put your number in,” Lance explained. “Then I can send the picture to you.”

Keith took the phone, confused. “Can’t you just send it to me through Instagram?”

Lance waved a hand. “Nah, takes too long. Through text is more convenient. I check it more often.”

_ More often? What does that mean? That we’ll have conversations? What is this day,  _ Keith thought to himself. But he put in his number, and handed Lance back his phone. Lance tapped around his screen, then Keith heard the  _ whoosh  _ of a text being sent. Less than a second later, he felt his own phone vibrate in his pocket. Even though he knew what it was, he took it out anyway. The notification was the only one over the generic ocean background. It was from a number that he did not have in his phone, but was obviously Lance’s. There was a small copy of the photo, and a text. 

**(669)321-6442:** Can I post to Insta?

Keith looked back up at Lance, who was eager for his reply. “Sure,” he said, but Lance held up a hand. 

“Nope! You gotta text it to me.”

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

Keith opened the reply box. “You know, you really piss me off.”

Lance put both of his hands at his heart. “Aww, means a lot coming from you, Hotshot.” He smirked at Keith, watching him take in air to shoot something back, but relax after he finds he has nothing. 

“Cat got your tongue?” Lance teases. “Or a robot lion?” He laughs at his own reference.

“Haha,” Keith says, with no emotion. “How original.” 

Lance opens his mouth to make another smartass remark, when Pidge pushes both of them forward. “Guys! Get on the damn ride already.”

Lance and Keith turned around. A very annoyed amusement park employee was holding open the gate for the roller coaster car. Wow, the time moved that fast? They both mumbled a quick,  _ Sorry,  _ and jumped in the two seats in the back. Pidge and Hunk took the front. 

Keith took deep breaths as the safety guard came down from above him.  _ I can’t believe I’m actually doing this, I can’t believe I’m actually doing this, I can- _

“Hey, Red,” Lance pokes his side. “You do know it’s faster in the back right?”

Keith’s eyes bulge. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope,” Lance shook his head, popping the “p”. “Physics.”

Keith’s fear deepened. Before he had the chance to chicken out, the ride lurched forward. He gripped the safety guard. The others cheered around him as they started to climb the mountain. Up and up they went, the wind blowing recklessly through his hair and on his face. The higher up they went, the harder Keith gripped the guard. 

“C’mon, Mullet!” Lance yelled, his voice just audible over the wind and screams of other riders down below. “Relax!”

This did not let Keith relax. It mostly just let him panic more. In an attempt to bring his hands down to the sides of the seat, his hand brushed with Lances. Then everything went to hell. 

They were just over the top of the coaster, the rest of the amusement park and city glittering beneath their feet. It was like they were above a glittering sea, the stars above their heads and by their feet. If only they could go for a swim…

The car was just going over the hill when Keith decided he needed to switch. He brought his hands down just as gravity began to pull at them, just as Lance had readjusted. Their hands touched, and Keith was about to go find the hard plastic of the seat when the ride burst forward, and down, into the glittering sea. This was not the swim Keith had in mind. Keith reached for something to hold, anything. His hand shot out and grabbed the first thing it could find, which just happened to be Lance’s hand. 

Now, as they were going at light speed towards the ground, the air was sucked out of Keith’s lungs. He squeezed Lance’s hand as tight as he could as the gentle pressure from the air on his chest subsided, and he finally came to terms with:  _ Oh my god I’m falling through the air and wait hold on I’m holding Lance’s hand- _

The ride went over a loop, and he was thrown against the top of his seat. He screamed, finally able to expel air. Luckily, the much louder screams from Pidge and Hunk masked his. He tried to loosen his grip on Lance, but he couldn’t get his hand free. It was like  _ he was squeezing back.  _

Keith tried to look at him, turn his head and see if Lance was messing with him. But the wind and air against his face kept him from moving it at all. There was one more smaller drop, then the ride slowed. They got to a small bridge between the line they had been standing in and the end of the ride. 

Everyone spent the next few seconds and getting air up to their heads. Pidge then threw her hands up. “That was AWESOME!”

Keith leaned his head on the guard as he breathed in and out. “That was… sure something.” 

Hunk leaned forward a bit. “OK, feeling a little nauseous, but I’ll be good. But… AAHH THAT WAS SO COOL!”

Pidge kicked her legs. “I know right?! This is definitely the best ride here.” 

Keith felt Lance exhale heavily beside him. He turned to look at him. He had his head leaned against the back of his seat, a big smile plastered on his feet. He was still holding on gently to Keith’s hand. Carefully, Lance opened an eyelid. His striking blue eye glinted in the yellowish light. 

“Again, Red?” he says softly. “Haven’t had enough of Lancey Lance, huh?”

Keith scoffs. Bringing face as close to Lance as he could, he whispers, “Maybe you’re the one who hasn’t has enough of me.” He glances down to their laced fingers. 

Lance bites his lip and releases Keith’s hand, his eyes looking distant. He doesn’t try to say anything back. Neither does Keith. 

They pull into the bay, and exit their car. Lance and Keith chat about the ride with Hunk and Pidge, about how terrifying the drop was, moment when they felt like they were going to fly out of their seats, and when Pidge screamed, “Aliens are real! Y’all non-believers can suck it!” at the top of her lungs. But Keith and Lance didn’t talk to each other. Not a word.

When they dropped Lance off at home, he said goodbye to Hunk and Pidge. To Keith, he gave a small smile and a wave. Keith opened his mouth to say,  _ bye,  _ but Lance had already slammed the door shut. But Keith swore, as they were driving away, that he saw Lance give him a two fingered salute before he waltzed inside. 

__  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaand that's all for now!! This chapter felt a bit longer than the others, I hope you guys enjoyed! New chapter coming up soon. Extra soon if you get the title reference ;)
> 
> Keep up with me on Tumblr: geekstuckinthetrash.tumblr.com


	9. The Block Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith goes to Kolivan's business party and things go swimmingly.

“Keith, slow down!” Shiro had to practically scream to get through to Keith. Keith finally caught on that Shiro was talking, and stopped for a moment to catch his breath. 

 

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

 

“Deep breaths,” Shiro instructed, and Keith complied. “Just like that.” Shiro gave Keith a few seconds to calm himself down. “You good?”

 

Keith nodded in affirmation, then started to speak again, only a beat slower than last time. “We held hands! Shiro, I’m not kidding, I just grabbed his hand, and he  _ squeezed it.  _ And it was like that the whole time I almost exploded-” Keith went off on a tangent again. Shiro tried again to get him to calm down, but eventually he figured out that there was no point. He’d never seen Keith this happy before. 

 

“Congrats, dude,” Shiro finally cut in, when Keith had to pause for air. “Seems like he likes you.”

 

Keith’s face flushed. “No, no way, Shiro he has a  _ girlfriend,  _ and I don’t really think he’s bi-,” he rambled again. 

 

“Keith, trust me,” Shiro leaned into his palm. “He likes you.”

 

Keith bit his lip to keep himself from smiling. “You really think so?”

 

Shiro chuckles. “I know so, kiddo.”

 

Keith let his smile grow across his face. Shiro stifled a laugh. “I never thought of you to be this soft.”

 

“Shut up,” Keith readjusts his laptop on his knees. “So, how’s stuff with you?”

 

Shiro shrugs. “Same old. Boring. Training drills, annoying the hell out of Matt, the usual.”

 

“You’re such a good friend.”

 

“I know, right? I’m surprised he hasn’t left me yet.” 

 

Keith opens his mouth, about to make a smart ass comment, when his phone chimes. He glances at it from his bed, but quickly returns his eyes to Shiro. “Sorry about that,” he apologizes. “Were you saying something?”

 

“Oh, uh, just that this week is the last-”

 

Shiro is cut off again by the chime from Keith’s phone. From this one, Keith could tell it was a text. This time, even Shiro glanced near the direction of the phone sitting on the nightstand. Keith ignored it again. 

 

“Sorry my phone’s being… stupid,” he shuffles over a little. “What was that again?”

 

Shiro shakes his head and hold up his palm. “You know what, it’s okay. Go ahead.”

 

“No, it’s okay let’s-”

 

“Shut up we both know that it’s probably Lance and you want to text him.”

 

Keith rolled his eyes. “Stop being right.”

 

Shiro smiles. “No thanks.”

 

The cursor hovers over the red “End Call” button. “See you.”

 

“Bye.”

 

Shiro’s end cuts off before Keith.

As soon as the Skype logo is visible, Keith throws his laptop off of his knees. He leans over to grab his phone off of the table, and quickly presses the power button at the bottom of the screen. His heartbeat is definitely surpassing 1000 miles an hour right about now. But then it slows down. The corners of Keith’s mouth turn to a frown when he realizes that the text was not from Lance, but from Pidge. 

 

Reluctantly, he begins to type out his response to her message. 

 

**Gremlin:** So… u and Lance?

 

**Gremlin:** Stop ignoring me I know ur there

 

**Keef:** You interrupted a call with Shiro to tell me t h a t

 

**Gremlin:** Omg I’m so sorry

 

**Keef:** Don’t worry about it. He had to go anyway.

 

**Gremlin:** Great

 

**Gremlin:** So we can talk about u and Lance then

 

**Gremlin:** ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

 

**Keef:** alkjfdlksdajfkljds

 

**Keef:** You got me

 

**Gremlin:** I’m so good at this

 

**Gremlin:** So

 

**Gremlin:** What’s the deal? 

 

Keith thought about it for a few seconds. The only person who currently knew of his crush on Lance (finally, he admitted it) was Shiro. And he was on the other side of the globe, so it wasn’t like he could mess this up for him. Or maybe he could. Better not dwell on Shiro’s capabilities. Pidge  _ was  _ one of his closest friends, and he  _ had  _ known her since they were kids. If there was anyone else he should tell, Pidge made the cut. So he did.

**Keef:** I have a crush on him

 

**Keef:** That’s about it

 

**Gremlin:** !!! 

 

**Gremlin:** I knew it

 

**Gremlin:** Wow my radar is so good??

 

**Gremlin:** I can’t believe I knew before u did

 

**Keef:** Shut up

 

**Keef:** And be supportive

 

**Gremlin:** I’m being supportive 

 

**Gremlin:** In my own way

 

**Keef:** Ok Pidgeon 

 

**Gremlin:** [Image Sent]

 

**Keef:** [Image Received]

 

**Gremlin:** Don’t you dare call me that again or I will send the screenshot of you admitting that you’re in love with Lance to the group chat

 

**Keef:** PIDGE

 

**Keef:** WHY DID YOU DO THAT

 

**Gremlin:** Blackmail hunty

 

**Gremlin:** Finally I have ultimate power

 

**Keef:** Ok shorty -_-

 

**Gremlin:** Wow 

 

**Keef:** You know I’ve always hated you, right?

 

**Gremlin:** Forever and always, sweaty <3

 

**Gremlin:** Anyway, do u think u can come to a tech exhibition panel thing with me next Saturday? Mom can’t come and I need someone to come with me so I can use the carpool lane.

 

**Keef:** Sorry, no can do. Uncle Kolivan is throwing his annual neighborhood block party and, surprise, I have to go. 

 

**Gremlin:** UGH

 

**Gremlin:** Just letting you know in advance when you get to hell, I prepaid for your ticket.

 

**Keef:** Thanks for the help, Shorty ;)

 

**Gremlin:** Fuck you

 

Keef clicks off his phone and lies back down on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He has no idea what to do. He finally admitted to two people that yeah, maybe he did have a little crush on Lance. And yeah, maybe he thought Lance liked him too. But Keith was able to settle on not doing anything about it. 

 

For one, he was pretty sure Lance had a girlfriend. Or, someone he cared about a lot. Nyma’s role in this wasn’t really clear. Keith was also not the type to go up to someone and just spill out his emotions. Doing that would be very un-Keith of him and very humiliating. Eventually, Keith decided on a simple, very easy to follow plan: avoid Lance at all costs and don’t interact with him whatsoever. This was foolproof.

 

Yeah, not really. Keith came into History on Monday, taking a seat at his desk. Lance’s blue eyes greeted him immediately. 

 

“Hey, Mullet,” Lance smiles across the table at him. 

 

“Hey,” Keith says quickly. He starts shuffling through his bag, pretending to look for his binder. Not making eye contact was a key strategy for Keith. Too bad Lance’s eyes were so pretty. He eventually had to bring his head up, and was met from the same blue ocean from Halloween. 

 

“What’d you do over the weekend?” Lance asks casually. 

 

Keith shrugs. “Stayed home for the most part,” he responds. Keith ducks back down to make a scene of getting his pen. Luckily, by the time he resurfaced, Hunk was sitting next to him. He sighed in relief. 

 

“Hey Hunk,” he greets. 

 

“Hey.”

 

“How’d you guys like Halloween?” Lance tries to start a conversation. 

“It was pretty fun,” Hunk says. “What did you think, Keith?”

 

_ What do you mean “What do I think”? Probably the only positive experience I’ve ever had on that stupid holiday.  _ “Yeah, that was pretty cool.”

 

Pidge sinks into her seat, sighing dramatically. She holds up her head with her hands, propping up her elbows on her desk. Pidge lets out a long, dramatic sigh. Keith, Lance, and Hunk all eye each other, confused. 

 

“Uh, you okay there Pidgeon?” Lance gently pokes her shoulder. “That was dramatic.”

 

Pidge doesn’t move, and closes her eyes. “Dramatic? Really? Have you met you?”

 

Lance pretends to think about it for a few seconds. “I mean, you have a point.” Hunk rolls his eyes. 

 

“Something on your mind, Pidge?” concern boarders Hunk’s voice. “Anything you want to talk about?”

 

She folds her arms flat onto the desk, and slams her head on them. “Guys, stop questioning her. I think she might implode,” Keith comments.

 

Lance ignores him, and pokes her shoulder again. “Hello? Anyone home?” 

 

This time, thank god, Pidge did not fold in on herself. Muffled from beneath her arms, came out somewhat audible words. “I don’t know, Lance. How about you ask Keith about he totally dissed me?”

 

All eyes at the table trail over to Keith. He sits still, staring out at their faces dumbly. Then the memory of texting Pidge appears in his mind. 

 

“It isn’t my fault, okay?” he starts. “My uncle, who I’m staying with, is making me go to his annual neighborhood block party business thing. And I can’t go with her to a tech panel so she can use the carpool lane because of it.”

 

Hunk shakes his head. “That is low, my dude. Low.”

 

“What am I supposed to do? Skip it and get my ass whooped?”

 

Hunk simply shakes his head and pats Pidge’s shoulder. “I’ll go with you. Because I,” he turns back to give Keith the stink eye, “have a heart.”

 

Pidge snaps her head back up. “Thanks so much! I’ll text you the details.”

 

“Awesome!”

 

Keith’s eyes travel over to Lance, who’s been weirdly quiet. He’s leaning back in his chair, with his arms crossed. Lance stares off into space, and Keith is about to snap him back when the bell snaps him back for him. Mr. Coran takes his place at the front of the class, and begins his boring lecture on Mesopotamia, yet again. 

* * *

  
  


The week was definitely the most boring keith has ever had.  _ Ever.  _ Throughout his entire high school career, he doesn’t think he’s ever been this bored. Not even that one week in sophomore year when his math teacher was gone for a week and all they did were 20 question review worksheets every day. No, Keith has never experienced this much boredom at once. 

 

Keith ends up finding himself looking a  _ little  _ forward to Kolivan’s party business thing on Saturday. In fact, he’s looking so forward to it, that he wakes up a whole 30 minutes earlier than he usually would, at 12:00pm. That doesn’t mean he gets out of bed until 1, however. Keith spends an hour tapping his phone screen playing  _ Hogwarts Mystery.  _ Eventually, he runs out of energy, and is forced to switch his phone off.

His footsteps echo throughout the house as he runs downstairs to grab breakfast. Kolivan is out working, as usual, so Keith has the house to himself. He makes himself a bowl of cereal and sinks down onto the leather couch. It was cold as ice on his skin, and he could even feel it soaking through his skin. 

 

Grabbing the remote from the coffee table, he begins to flick through channels. News, news, soap opera, more news- Look! Another soap opera!- there really wasn’t much on. He eventually decided to watch episodes of Spongebob. Not exactly what he had in mind, but it was the only thing on TV. 

 

The episodes of Spongebob start to eat away at the day. When Keith comes out of his Spongebob-induced coma, he realizes that it was four o’ clock, and Kolivan would be home soon to collect him for the party. Quickly cleaning his bowl, he races upstairs to shower and change. He is barely able to tug on a pair of faded blue jeans and a graphic t-shirt when he hears Kolivan step into the house. Keith shoves his phone in his back pocket as he almost trips running down the stairs. Kolivan didn’t even have to say a word. 

 

“Are you ready, Keith?” Kolivan aaks, but more of a command than a question.

 

“Yes, Uncle,” Keith replies obediently. 

 

“Come along, then,” Kolivan holds open the large, wooden white door of the house, and both he and Keith step outside. Keith is just about to open the handle of Kolivan’s car when he stops him. 

 

“It’s just down the road. I think it’ll be nice to walk,” Kolivan tells his nephew. 

 

Keith suppresses a gulp.  _ Just wait; it’s gonna be another long conversation about how I’m not good enough, that I’m nothing like shiro, that I should be better- _

 

But no such conversation came. They crossed a single intersection before being greeted by the gentle hum of music coming from down the street. Kolivan puts a hand on Keith’s shoulder. 

 

“I’m going to introduce you to several of my colleagues. Try not to embarrass us.”

 

_ There it is.  _

 

Kolivan guides Keith around the party. It was surprisingly casual for a business party. Several men were grilling steak, among other things. No one was in suits, or fancy attire. There were even a few kids his age. Keith lets Kolivan take him around. He says hello to a couple of people, and answers a few questions about being “the boss’ nephew”. The boredom was setting in again. 

 

Finally, Kolivan loosens his tight grip on Keith’s shoulder. “You’re done. Just stay around the party and don’t set anything on fire,” he growls in Keith’s ear. He then pats Keith on the back and disappears into a crowd of men and women in an intense conversation.  _ Great. Looks like I’m on my own.  _

 

Keith is looking around for a comfy piece of curb to sit on when he sees it.  _ The ocean.  _ Shimmering blue.  _ Lance?! _

 

Lance is looking right at him, next to a tall man of about forty. The man isn’t paying any attention to him as he slips from his side and goes to Keith’s. He smirks at him. “Fancy seeing you here,” Lance winks.

 

Keith is about to set on fire, the opposite of what Kolivan told him to do. “What are you doing here?” he snaps. 

 

“Same as you. Dragged here by my legal guardian,” he gestures over to the man. 

 

“Oh,” is all Keith is able to say. 

 

Lance looks around for a second, his eyes darting between the groups of adults milling around them. He pulls Keith close to him, their foreheads almost touching. Keith freezes. “How about,” Lance starts, his voice low. “we get out of here?”  _ Nod you idiot! Do something! _

 

Keith nods vigorously, trying not to make it seem like fireworks are going off in his rib cage. Lance smiles wide, and grabs Keith’s arm, pulling him to a house to the right of the street. A large bush covers a gate into the backyard, and Lance slips through the branches easily. Keith comes in tow, but not going through as easily as Lance did. Branches scratch at his face and arms. He’s clearing a leaf from his hair when he hears the quiet  _ click _ of the gate being opened. The wooden door in the fence creaks open, and Lance takes Keith through. 

 

Keith hesitates going through. “Are you insane? This is someone’s house! We can’t just-”

 

“My cousin’s,” Lance cuts Keith off. “It’s my cousin's house. I do this all the time.” He pulls harder at Keith’s arm and leads him into the most stunning backyard he has ever seen.

 

The first thing he notices is the pool. It’s huge, in a large rectangle. A waterfall leads down into it from one of the corners. Flowers decorate the back fence. A firepit is under a canopy of the house, with plush couches surrounding it. A grill id over to the side, with a bar. A TV stands against the back wall, viewable from the couches and the bar. This was the perfect backyard. 

 

“Cool, isn’t it?” Lance’s voice snaps Keith back to attention. He’s smiling at Keith, his gray hoodie hanging loosely off of his thin frame. His dark blue skinny jeans fit him perfectly. Even the dirty white tennis shoes he wore on his feet made him beautiful. The pink, yellow, and orange sky of the sunset overhead didn’t hurt much either. 

 

“Yeah..,” Keith breathed, not taking his eyes off of Lance. He wanted to take a picture of him. 

 

Before he even knew it, Lance was pulling off his sweatshirt. And his shirt.  _ Wait what-aand he’s shirtless. And he has a six pack?! Is he TRYING to kill me?  _

 

Yeah, so now Lance was standing shirtless in front of Keith. And rolling up his jeans. And taking off his dirty white tennis shoes. He takes a few steps into the water before he turns around to look at Keith. “Well?” he questions, gently splashing the water around his ankles. “You coming?” 

 

Keith considers, for a millisecond, saying no. Then he realizes that he’s an idiot for even thinking that, and starts to take off his shirt. In what feels like seconds, Keith is standing next to Lance in the cool pool water. It laps against his ankles. Lance starts to step in, beckoning Keith to follow him. And he does.

 

They swim wordlessly in the shallow end of the pool. The gently drizzle of the waterfall and the streaks of paint in the sky makes this the perfect setting for Keith to tell Lance that he likes him. Almost the perfect setting.

 

Lance breaks the silence, crouching down in the water so his shoulders are covered, swimming over to Keith. “Hey,” he whispers. His hair is sticking to his forehead. The lights from the pool switch on, and the sunlight dances around on it, giving it a fuzzy golden glow. 

 

“Hey,” Keith whispers back, lowering himself down.  _ Now, do it now!  _ Keith opens his mouth to speak, but gets a mouthful of Lance instead. 

 

Just kidding, it was pool water. Lance splashes him, and he gulps down some of the nauseating chlorine water by mistake. He coughs. “Lance McClain!” Keith yells, starting to chase him around the pool. He even ventures over to the deeper side of the water, laughing. They splash big and small waves at each other, back and forth. They don’t even feel the weight of their denim jeans dragging them down. They’re as light as air. 

 

But then they come crashing down. Lance sends a huge wave in Keith’s direction. He backs up instinctively, but slams his head against the jagged rock of the waterfall. Keith feels an explosion of pain at the back of his head, and he hold in a scream. He paddles himself to the shallow side, so he could stand. Lance hurriedly follows him. 

 

“Oh my god, I am so sorry!” Lance repeats over and over. “Are you okay?”

 

Keith winces a little when his voice gets too high. His head is throbbing. “Could you check,” he murmurs, “that it’s not bleeding?” 

 

Lance nods. “Of course.” He goes behind Keith and starts to carefully comb his fingers in Keith’s hair. Keith winces again when Lance hits the spot he hurt himself. “Anything?”

 

“Nothing, you’re all good.” Lance takes his hand out of Keith’s hair. “You need help getting out of the water? I think we’re all done swimming for tonight.”

 

Keith agrees, and drags himself over the edge of the pool and onto the concrete. He shivers at the cold. His upper body was mostly dry, but obviously his pants were still soaked. Keith follows Lance to a bench facing outward. The neighborhood was on a hill, so they could see the city on display below them. Lights were winking back at them, and the sun was just about to go to sleep. The pink and orange from earlier was now a deep purple and blue. Several bright stars were already visible. 

 

Keith is too busy staring out into the maze of lights to notice Lance get up. He does notice when he comes back. Keith becomes noticeably warmer, even though he is still shivering. Lance has something gray in his hands. His sweatshirt. He holds it out to Keith.

 

“Here,” he offers the sweatshirt to Keith. “You’re cold.”

 

Keith shakes his head. “No, no. I’m fine.” Lance gives Keith the sweatshirt, and he slips it over his head. The warmth it provides is welcoming and gentle. He can feel himself start to melt.  

 

“Take my shirt,” he blurts out. Lance raises an eyebrow. “It’ll keep you somewhat warm.” The corners of lance’s mouth tilt upward, and he fetches and pulls on the shirt. They sit back in comfortable silence. 

 

_ Tell him! Just- _

 

“Hey Keith?” Lance’s soft voice cuts through Keith train of thought.

 

“Yeah?” he replies, quieter than Lance. 

 

“Can I tell you something?”

 

“Sure?” Keith’s voice is shaky. 

 

Lance takes a deep breath, and puts his hand on Keith shoulder. He steals Keith’s eyes. God, Lance’s eyes could not have been shining any brighter than they were now. It was official: Lance’s eyes were brighter than any star. Gold was buzzing around him. 

 

_ I could just- _

 

And Lance’s lips were on Keith’s. And Keith’s were on Lance’s. And the twinkling city lights and the sun and all the stars in the galaxy, no, the  _ universe  _ were jealous of how bright they were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gEcKO? wRIte sOMething?? iN tHIs rEalIty??  
> FOR ONCE I CAME OUT OF MY HOLE AND WROTE SOMETHING!!! Sorry this chapter took like 3 weeks!! School is wrapping up and I've been swamped with sO mUCH wOrk. Hopefully this chapter made you happy (because this is probably the last time Keith is going to be happy for e while...)
> 
> Hope you enjoyed the chapter! I write small drabbles on my Tumblr every now and again, go check them out!
> 
> Tumblr: geckointhegarbage.tumblr.com  
> Art Tumblr: 88-20.tumblr.com
> 
> If you make art for this fic, tag me in it! I would love to see it! 
> 
> Next update coming in a few weeks!


	10. Reserved Only For the Brighest Star

 

Damn waterfall.

 

That had, in fact, not happened. But Keith wished it did. What actually ended up happening was…

 

“Can I tell you something?”

 

“Sure?” Keith’s voice is shaky.

 

“I caught my girlfriend cheating on me.”

 

It was barely a whisper, but Keith caught it. And the words stuck.

 

“You… what?”

 

Lance sniffed, and wrung his fingers together. “Yeah,” he said softly, looking out over the city. Looking out to the sky. “Few weeks ago, actually. I was going to surprise her for her birthday, y’know? I had flowers and chocolate, all the cute shit she loves.”

 

He laughs a little, trying to cover up the fact that his eyes were watering. “And there was a silver Audi in front of her house. I knocked on the door, and…” Lance purses his lips together for a second, flashing his eyes back in Keith’s direction. Keith sat awkwardly next to him, but nodded to show that he was listening. “He answered. Her side man.” A tear made its journey down his face. Keith wanted to reach out and hug him, hug him and tell him everything’s going to be okay, that this wasn’t the end of the world. But of course Keith would think that. He has never even had a boyfriend before, never had someone to love in this way, so how would he know how the end of the world felt like? Lance took a deep breath.

 

“He left. I guess he felt bad for me or something. Didn’t fight me. She was crying and begging me not to go and that she still loved me. We fought. She argued that she didn’t mean to and that it wasn’t what it looked like and that we can still be together. The worst part was,” Lance chuckles and wipes a tear away, “I was going to stay. I would’ve stayed. Then I… remembered my mom. When my dad-I left. I left her crying at her front door only for me to go home and cry in my room.” 

 

He closes his eyes for a few seconds running a hand through his short brown hair, showing off golden strands in the fading sunlight. “So… yeah. Thanks for listening. I’m sorry I told you.”

 

Keith doesn’t know what to say. What  _ do  _ you say when someone tells you something like this? He contemplates something appropriate to say for a second. The decides  _ fuck it  _ and says the first thing that pops into his head. “Don’t be sorry you told me. I’m glad you were able to get that off of your chest. And I’m so sorry this happened to you. You don’t deserve it.  _ She  _ doesn’t deserve you. I mean,” Keith smiles, “look at you! Varsity team swimmer, 4.0 GPA student, the funniest person I know, kind, sincere: you’re amazing! Honestly, you don’t deserve someone like her, someone who can’t see how amazing you are. You deserve someone who can see how perfect you are, how you can make them laugh even in the saddest of situations.”

 

Keith locks eyes with Lance. He’s smiling back at Keith. “You need someone who shines just as bright as you Lance. As bright as  _ the fucking sun. _ ”

 

Lance laughs, loud and joyful and beautiful. Fire is dancing around him. “Thank you so much, Keith. You’re seriously helping me feel so much better about this whole thing. I haven’t felt this good about myself since…” His smile falters for a moment, but snaps back quicker. “Thank you,” he repeats. 

 

Keith shakes his head. “No problem, you needed to know at some point.” 

 

Lance licks his lips, and chuckles again, watching the colors that were painted across the sky slowly dim. Keith looks out with him, as some of the brightest stars begin to become visible across the city’s skyline. Lance was one of those stars, a star that could stand out even though there’s so much bad going around around him. A star you could look up to for guidance, for helping you find out where you belong. Keith wished he was worthy of a star like that. 

 

He moved his hand closer to the hand of the star. Maybe with a touch he could get the star to notice him. 

 

And closer. 

 

_ And closer. _

 

His hand was pressed up right against the star’s hand. The star noticed, and noticed who was craving his attention. 

 

_ DO IT NOW _

 

The dim star did a leap of faith, and took the kind, gentle, loving, hilarious, caring, angelic star’s hand. Their fingers laced together, and the dim star was getting brighter, brighter. He was filling up with happiness. The other star was warm, and his palms were soft. Holding his hand felt right. 

 

For one star. 

 

Lance spread open his palm, loosening Keith’s grasp. Keith jolted away; he knew he had done something wrong.  _ No, no, no, no, please, no… _

 

“Keith?” Lance slowly moved his hand away from Keith’s. Lance was still looking out at the stars. Keith didn’t respond. 

 

“I’m sorry, Keith.” 

 

“What?” Keith choked out. He turns to face Lance, and Lance turns to face him. 

 

“I’m sorry I don’t feel the same.”

 

“You… right, yeah. I-uh-I’m sorry,” Keith blinks.  _ Blink harder! Faster! Don’t cry! YOU’RE NOT GOING TO CRY.  _

 

“Look, we can talk about it if-,” Lance starts, but is interrupted by 3 sharp, quick raps on the gate. 

 

“Keith?” a gruff voice calls.  _ Kolivan.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oOps IM SORRY
> 
> finals hit me like a bUS and i was in new york last week (fun trip i met an internet friendd) so i had 0 time to write...
> 
> summer's here now tho so i'll be able to write more!! updates should be coming every 1-2 weeks for the next while.
> 
> Follow me on Tumblr: geckointhegarbage.tumblr.com  
> My art Tumblr: 88-20.tumblr.com


	11. Shut Up and Dance With Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith goes to Lance's New Year's party.

Keith squeezes his eyes shut to prevent a tear that was threatening to spill over. “I-I got to go,” he says quickly, trying to keep his voice steady. He grabs his phone and speed walks over to the gate. Lance doesn’t follow him, or look back at him for that matter. Keith makes a final glance back at Lance’s figure before unlocking the gate. He’s still sitting up straight, the final rays of the sun making him stand out among the dull background of trees and bushes. Once Keith opens the gate, he shuts Lance out of his head. 

 

Kolivan is standing on the other side, his arms crossed. His expression is stern, but he doesn’t look angry. “Let’s head home, Keith,” he says gruffly. Before Keith can respond, he puts a hand on his back and steers him in the direction of his house. Keith complies happily, glad to be out of there. He prays he can keep himself from collapsing until he gets to his room. 

 

The walk felt faster than before, and Keith was back in his room. He shuts the door, and falls flat onto his bed, just in time for the first few tears to fall.

 

_ Why are you crying?,  _ he asks himself as the volume of tears increases.  _ There’s no reason for you to be crying.  _ He blinks several times, then sits up. Keith grabs his computer from under his bed, and opens up Skype without hesitation. Of course, he immediately starts a call with Shiro. The phone rings for a few seconds, and Shiro picks up. He has bags under his eyes, and his hair is ruffled. The sunlight from a window in the background streams in, and the room is lit up brightly without the need for lights. 

 

“Keith?” he asks, confused. “What’s wrong?” Shiro notices the tears streaking down his brother’s face. “Keith, are you okay?” Keith stifles a small sob, wiping his face with the sleeve of the sweatshirt. 

 

“Who’s sweatshirt is that?” Shiro asks, wanting to know more about why is brother called him crying. Keith rarely cried. Sure, he felt like it at times, but he always had the will to never let a tear fall down his face.  _ What would break him down to the point of tears running down his face? _ Shiro realizes what happened before Keith could even say a word. 

 

“I...I told him, Shiro,” Keith mumbled. “I told him tonight.”

 

Shiro’s expression softened. “I’m so sorry, Keith.”

 

Keith shook his head. “Don’t be,” his voice is wet and gasping for air, “I knew this was going to happen. I-I knew it Shiro! I knew it. And I still told him like the fucking idiot I am. I told him and he rejected me. I knew this was going to happen. I just…” He wipes his face quickly with the long sleeves of Lance’s jacket. “I just can’t believe I feel like this.”

 

Shiro gives his brother a soft smile. “Love does that to you sometimes.” 

 

That made Keith almost laugh. Almost. “Love? Shiro, I’ve only known him for, like, 2 months. I can’t love him that quickly.” 

 

Shiro sighs. “How else would you explain how you feel?”

 

Keith shrugs, and sniffs. “I dunno. A deep appreciation for him?”

 

“Well, whatever it is, a ‘deep appreciation’ or whatever you want to call it, it was eating you up. I’m proud that you told him straight up, Keith. It shows how brave you are.”

 

Keith hesitates to respond. Technically speaking, he didn’t tell Lance. He more grabbed his hand randomly. Hopefully Lance got the message from that. He can’t be  _ that  _ stupid. Whatever. He’ll stick with it. 

 

“Yeah, I guess,” Keith brings his knees up to his chest. “Thanks for answering, Shiro.”

 

Shiro chuckles. “Of course. Now you go to bed. It’s 8 o’clock and you need to sleep.” He winks. 

 

Keith laughs. “Right. Sleep. At eight because I am seven years old.” He pauses to stretch his arms. “I’ll call you soon, yeah?”

 

Shiro nods. “Yeah, when I’m next free I’ll let you know.” 

 

“Thanks. Bye. I love you.”

 

“Love you too, Keith.”

* * *

 

Keith was dreading returning to school the following Monday. The weight of telling Lance was now (somewhat) off of his shoulders, but now he felt the impending doom of people finding out.  _ What if Lance told the whole school about it? Everyone would know how stupid I was. Am. Why did I even do it?  _

 

He dragged his feet through the front door of his history class, staring at the carpet as he sulked towards his desk. Keith sat down as quietly and as inconspicuously as he could, trying to draw no attention to himself. None of the others were at his table yet. Keith quickly snatched his phone from his pocket, and started to play a game mindlessly. He didn’t get too far in the game before Pidge joined him. 

 

“What’s up, traitor,” she greets, an over exaggerated frown on her face. 

 

Keith glances up at her from his phone. “Nothing much, life sucking gremlin.”

 

Pidge giggles. “Life sucking gremlin? Wow, you’re really off your game.” She pulls out the textbook and her pens and pencil from her bag. “Something wrong?” 

 

Keith shuts off his phone. “No. Nothing,” he snaps a bit too quickly. Pidge opens her mouth, about to say something, but gets distracted as Hunk sits down. 

 

“Hey Keith!” Hunk was especially cheery this morning. “Pidge.”

 

“Hello loving friend who actually went with me to the annual Snake Canyon New and Upcoming Technologies Panel,” she says back, giving Keith the stink eye. 

 

Keith sighs. “How many times do I have to tell you, I didn’t have a choice! Kolivan  _ made me  _ go to his stupid work block party thing.”

 

“Uh huh,” Pidge said sarcastically, opening the textbook. “Sure he did.”

 

Keith leaned back in his chair, defeated. Pidge smirked and glanced over his head at an approaching figure. She shot Keith a sly wink, which could only mean one thing. 

 

“Hey nerds what’s shakin’?” Lance’s singsong voice called. He came into view in front of Keith as he took his seat. He wore a faded gray shirt with “Voltron: Defender of the Universe” written on it, and light blue jeans. A plain black snapback was on his head, small curls peeking out from under it. Keith could only feel the sinking feeling in his stomach get worse. 

 

“What’s shakin’?” Pidge exclaimed. “Is that the best you can come up with?”

 

“Hey! I only had a few seconds to come up with something,” Lance fired back. 

 

“ ‘kay,” Pidge sighs, and turns to face the board. Coran was starting to scrawl the lesson plan for today on it. 

 

Then Lance glances at Keith. And Keith looks at Lance. Lance flashes him an apologetic smile. He mouths,  _ Do you want to talk about it?  _ Keith shakes his head in reply. 

 

Lance doesn’t ask again. 

* * *

 

The days since Keith held Lance’s hand pass by surprisingly quickly. Neither of them brought it up, and continued to have a very friendly relationship. It was like it never even happened. They were soon able to even hang out alone together like normal again. Keith’s anxiety about the event eventually loosened his grip on him. 

 

So, when Lance asked the group if they wanted to spend New Year’s at his house, Keith was not surprised when he quickly agreed. This would be his first New Year’s without his dad and Shiro. He didn’t want to spend it cooped up in the guest room at Kolivans. His dad would most definitely disagree. 

 

Midterms were a pain to go through, but with Pidge’s vicious study sessions and his reliance on Quizlet, he was able to pass. Kolivan had told him that he was going out with some of his work buddies for the New Year, so Keith was excited for the party. 

 

The night of, he was looking through his closet for something to wear. Lance had explained that “it was casual”. Well, with Lance, nothing was “just casual”. And so, here he was, digging through all of his clothes to see what he could find. After looking for half an hour, he was able to find a plain black button up to wear with-you guessed it- black jeans. To reach a little out of his comfort zone, he added an old gold belt of Shiro’s to his waist. When he looked in the mirror, he felt ridiculous. 

 

This wasn’t something he would wear. He wasn’t this… dramatic. Or, as Pidge would say, “extra”. To bring himself back, he grabbed a red elastic and tied up his hair in a messy ponytail. He still felt really stupid, but he slid on his Adidas anyway. 

 

Pidge came to pick him up in her mom’s car a few minutes after Keith got ready. He slammed the passenger side door when he heard her snicker. “What?” he asked. 

 

Pidge continued to snicker as she pulled the car out of park. “Nothing!” she said, then adding, “It’s just… you look different.”

 

“Different?” Keith wondered aloud. “Different how?”

 

“Well, the Keith I know wouldn’t wear a button up. Or a gold belt,” Pidge was still trying to contain her laughter, rather unsuccessfully. 

 

“Whatever,” Keith mumbled. The car lurched forward, and he spaced out. 

 

When Pidge pulled into Lance’s driveway, she had to snap her fingers a few times to pull Keith out of whatever la la land he was in. 

 

“Uh, Keith you good?” she asked. 

 

Keith nodded a few times too many. “Yeah,” he unbuckled his seatbelt. “Yeah, I’m good.”

 

Pidge wasn’t entirely convinced, but she didn’t try to continue the conversation. Keith got out of the passenger’s side of the car, and turned to look at where they had arrived. 

 

Lance’s house wasn’t a mansion or anything. It was just a basic house that anyone would see in their neighborhood. The house was two stories, painted a golden-tan. A terracotta red accented the house, framing some of the windows. The front garden was blooming with flowers: wildflowers, lilacs, and dandelions. As Keith got closer to his front door, he even saw a rose bush. 

 

Pidge knocked on the door, and Keith noticed what Pidge was wearing. 

 

“Are you wearing a crop top?” he exclaimed, surprised. “And all black?!” 

 

Pidge groaned. “Yes, I am. And I look badass. Any other words come out of that stupid mouth of yours, I will shove your foot so far up your-”

 

She was unable to finish her (extremely offensive) comment, because the door unlocked. Lance came into view, smiling at his friends. “Hey guys!” he welcomed. “Come in.” His white collared shirt and black dress pants proved that Keith was right about the whole casual dress thing. 

 

Pidge and Keith waved as they stepped inside. Lance closed the door behind them. “Kitchen’s this way,” Lance motioned over to a pair of glass doors straight ahead of them. Pidge and Keith followed him. Keith had a few moments to look around, glancing at the various things that were across his foyer. 

 

A very expensive white leather couch was to his left, along with a large portrait of Lance’s family. Four women stood behind five children. There were two younger girls and two younger boys. An older boy stood to the side of one of the older women. The little girls had their hair in pigtails, and were wearing similar outfits. They each had a color theme, one in yellow and one in blue. The boys had the same color theme. The boy in blue was very familiar.... he was probably Lance.  _ Wait,  _ Keith thought,  _ Where’s his- _

 

His thoughts were interrupted as the group went into the kitchen. Hunk was standing behind the marble countertop, adding the finishing touches onto a cheese platter.  _ A cheese platter? I mean, why not. _ He smiled at them as they walked in. “Hey guys!” 

 

“Hey,” said Pidge and Keith in unison. Pidge jumped onto one of the barstools on the side of the counter. Pidge made a quick grab for a cracker on the platter Hunk was putting together, making him let out an offended gasp.

 

“I’m still working on it, asshole!” Hunk exclaimed, moving his precious platter away from Pidge’s grabby hands. “Respect the platter!”

 

Pidge gave a haughty laugh. “Respect the platter my ass!”

 

“Honestly!” Lance walked around the kitchen island to where Hunk was standing. “You two bicker more than me and Mullet over there.”

 

“Mullet?” Keith asked, crossing his arms. “Really? We’re back to that again?”

 

“Oh, honey,” Lance struts around the full circumference of the island and is back next to Keith, “We never left it.” He winks, and walks backward to his living room.

 

The living room was fairly basic: a flat screen television and two couches on either side of a wooden coffee table. Family pictures lay across the walls, some in black and white, but most in color. 

 

Lance flops onto his couch, and flicks on the TV. He switches through channels, not finding anything interesting (although, he did start recording a nature documentary about sharks). Then an idea struck him. He turned around the edge of the couch, his eyes glowing. “Guys! We should do karaoke!”

 

Keith felt all the color drain from his face.  _ Karaoke?! Seriously? No, nope, nuh uh. I’m leaving.  _

 

Hunk beamed, “Oh my god we should!” He abandoned his platter for the living room, where Lance was pulling a plastic microphone from a drawer in the coffee table. Pidge made a mad grab for a couple of crackers and cheese, and darted to the living room after him. As soon as the bright blue screen with the words,  _ Sing Along Karaoke!  _ appeared on the television screen, Keith knew he was living his worst nightmare. 

 

“Keith, c’mon!” Pidge waved him over from the kitchen. “This is gonna be awesome!” 

 

Keith realized that he had only two options in this situation: 1. Fake his own death or 2. Join in with karaoke and have a good time. Option 1 seemed to make the most sense to him, but alas, his legs betrayed him and were already leading him to where the others were.

 

Lance clicked the remote several times, and the microphone lit up. “Alright! Who’s first?” Pidge snagged the microphone from his hands, and selected the song,  _ I’m Not Famous  _ by AJR. Her singing then filled Keith’s ears, and he knew option 1 was  _ definitely  _ the option he should’ve gone with. 

 

The group cheered on Pidge as she finished her song, and Hunk when she passed on the microphone (he picked,  _ I Like Me Better  _ by Lauv. It was a stunning performance, dedicated to Lance, of course. Hunk can sing surprisingly well.) Then, it was handed to Lance. He smiled mischievously, and took his spot at the front of the living room. Lance flicked through songs, until he found one that he was happy with. Keith craned his neck around him to see the title, but it started playing before he could get a good look. 

 

The instrumental for the song began, and Keith knew instantly what song it was.  _ Shut Up and Dance with Me  _ by Walk The Moon is a song he hadn’t heard since 2014, but he still knew the lyrics by heart. As the words appeared on the screen, Lance turned away, and faced his friends. He parted his lips and began singing the lyrics by heart:

 

_ Oh don't you dare look back _

_ Just keep your eyes on me _

_ I said you're holding back _

_ She said shut up and dance with me _

_ This woman is my destiny _

_ She said oh oh oh _

_ Shut up and dance with me! _

 

All Keith could think in that moment was,  _ Whoa,  _ Lance’s voice was beautiful. It reminded him of rain hitting the ground, the gentle pushes at piano keys, the strum of a guitar. It was a mixture of sounds that didn’t seem possible: soft and rough and calm and enticing. Keith didn’t want him to stop singing. 

 

Lance was also dancing. He tapped his feet to the beat of the music, swung his arms, and spun. Pidge and Hunk were laughing at what a spectacle he’d become, but Keith was falling harder and faster for him by the second. 

 

_ We were victims of the night _

_ The chemical, physical, kryptonite _

_ Helpless to the bass and the fading light _

_ Oh we were bound to get together _

_ Bound to get together _

 

Lance jumped into the crowd and grabbed Pidge’s arm. She yelped in surprise, and he pulled her up toward his stage. He spun her around as he sang the next verse, Pidge giggling. Keith was pretty sure he hadn’t heard her giggle before. 

 

_ She took my arm _

_ I don't know how it happened _

_ We took the floor and she said _

_ Oh don't you dare look back _

_ Just keep your eyes on me _

_ I said you're holding back _

_ She said shut up and dance with me _

_ This woman is my destiny _

_ She said oh oh oh _

_ Shut up and dance with me! _

 

Lance twirled Pidge back to her seat, her face red and smiling wide. He took Hunk’s hand like a prince would a princess, and had Hunk join him. He waltzed with Hunk, trying to keep a straight face as he sang. Hunk tried to keep a straight face too, but they both failed miserably. 

_ A backless dress and some beat up sneaks _

_ My discotheque Juliet teenage dream _

_ I felt it in my chest as she looked at me _

_ I knew we were bound to be together _

_ Bound to be together _

_ She took my arm _

_ I don't know how it happened _

_ We took the floor and she said _

_ Oh don't you dare look back _

_ Just keep your eyes on me _

_ I said you're holding back _

_ She said shut up and dance with me _

_ This woman is my destiny _

_ She said oh oh oh _

_ Shut up and dance with me! _

 

Lance brought Hunk back to his seat, and held out his hand for Keith.  _ Shit.  _ Keith REALLY did not want to do this, but seeing as Pidge and Hunk were cheering him on (and Lance was smiling brightly at him with his hand out), not accepting Lance’s offer would be more awkward then accepting it. So he placed his hand in his. 

Lance pulled him up with him with surprising strength. Immediately, he started dancing, spinning Keith and leading him all around the front of the living room. 

 

_ Oh, c'mon girl _

_ Deep in her eyes _

_ I think I see the future _

_ I realize this is my last chance _

_ She took my arm _

_ I don't know how it happened _

_ We took the floor and she said _

_ Oh don't you dare look back _

_ Just keep your eyes on me _

_ I said you're holding back _

_ She said shut up and dance with me _

_ This woman is my destiny _

_ She said oh oh oh _

_ Shut up and dance! _

Lance took both of Keith’s hands in his and gently rocked them back and forth. His face was red from dancing, and his hair was messy again. He had a small food stain on his shirt collar, and a small pimple was growing near the side of his cheek. But in that moment, with Lance smiling as wide as his cheeks would allow, and his eyes sparkling like a diamond, Keith had never loved him more. 

As the music picked up again, Lance moved them faster, spinning Keith in and out of his arms. Keith was even  _ laughing,  _ something he never thought he’d be able to do while dancing. As the end of the song got nearer, Lance slowed them down. He locked eyes with Keith, and put his hands on Keith’s shoulders. 

_ Don't you dare look back _

_ Just keep your eyes on me _

Lance began to bring his hands down Keith’s back, and pulled him closer. 

_ I said you're holding back _

_ She said shut up and dance with me _

His left hand stopped at the small of Keith’s back.

_ This woman is my destiny _

_ She said oh oh oh _

_ Shut up and dance with me _

Lance threw out his right hand to the side dramatically.

_ Oh oh oh shut up dance with me! _

Wait hold on-

_ Oh oh oh shut up dance with me! _

And as the song ended, Keith was almost thrown to the floor.  _ Almost.  _ Lance had dipped him, and he was freaking out.

Pidge and Hunk were cheering and clapping at the end of the song. Lance was panting, and smiling at Keith below him. Keith didn’t really know what to think; his mind was currently the equivalent to TV static. Carefully, Lance pulled him up, and they went to sit back down on the couch. 

“Well,” he pants, crossing his legs and arms. “ _ That’s  _ how it’s done.” He turns and looks at Keith, winking. 

_ Static.  _

The vibration from his phone interrupted his thoughts of static. Keith pulls it out of his back pocket, surprised that it didn’t fly out when he and Lance were dancing. Kolivan was calling him. Keith rolled his eyes, pretty sure he already knew what this call was going to be about:  _ Seriously Keith?! Again? You didn’t wash the one (1) dish that you used and left it in the sink? What are you, an animal? Shiro would have NEVER done this. That’s it. I want you home right now. You’re grounded! _

Keith got up and moved to the kitchen to answer the call. He took a deep breath, and pressed the green button. “Hello?” he said, still panting slightly. 

“Keith!” Kolivan sounded frantic. He never sounds frantic. Keith’s heart beat faster. Something was wrong. 

“Yes?” Keith asked nervously. 

“Go to Arus Hospital, Shiro is back but he’s hurt,” Kolivan exclaimed. “Hurry! The doctors said-”

But Keith didn’t get to hear the rest of the call. He dropped his phone, his hands not seeming to work anymore. Lance called his name, but all he heard was

static. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oofff this one was a long one. more stuff coming soon! sorry for the wait, i hurt myself and had to get stitches :/
> 
> let me know what you thought of this chapter in the comments! <3
> 
> tumblr: geckointhegarbage.tumblr.com  
> art tumblr: 88-20.tumblr.com
> 
> (p.s., pidge's outfit is based on this post from bex:https://www.instagram.com/p/BkWowrYB3Ws/?taken-by=bex_tk)


	12. and on this night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> they finally pull themselves together

static. 

Nothing else could get through. His hands, his entire body was shaking. He was out of control. No thoughts came to mind, he couldn’t focus.  _ How do I breathe? I forgot how to breathe.  _

“Keith!” Lance’s handwas places gently on Keith’s shoulder. Keith didn’t turn around to face him, just slowly dropped down to the floor. Lance came along with him. 

“Hey, Keith, you okay?” Hunk and Pidge came running up to him from the front. “What’s wrong?” 

Keith took a shaky breath. “S-Shiro.” The others nodded, listening intently, waiting for him to get the rest of the words out. “He’s h-hurt. Really bad. And I-I have to go. I have to-” 

Keith turns around, and starts to stand, but is met with Lance. Lance places both hands on Keith’s shoulders to steady him. 

“Take a deep breath,” Lance instructs. “In and out.” Keith follows Lance’s instruction, slowly bringing his breathing back to normal. “In and out,” Lance repeats. Keith exhales one more time, before bringing his eyes up to meet Lance’s, and is surprised to see how much genuine concern Lance has for him. 

“Now, do you know what hospital Shiro is in?” Lance asks, not taking his hands off of Keith’s shoulders as they stand up. 

Keith nods. “Arus Hospital.”

“Great. That’s a fifteen minute drive from here.”

Lance looks at Pidge and Hunk. “You guys can stay here if you’d like. I’m going to take Keith to see Shiro. Hunk, you know where the food is.” 

Hunk and Pidge nod. Lance turns back to Keith, who’s looking at him, confused. “You sure you want to take me?” 

Lance puts an arm around Keith’s back, hugging him close to his side. “ ‘Course.” Lance leads him to the front door, grabbing his keys off of the key rack and tugging on his shoes. In the driveway, Lance directs Keith to an old tan minivan. Keith hops into the passenger seat, and Lance starts the engine. 

The ride to the hospital is done in silence. Keith doesn’t say anything to Lance, and Lance doesn’t make any moves to break the silence. Keith appreciates it, and watches the houses and streets go by. It’s crazy how much can change in such little time. 

Lance parks the car, and they enter the hospital lobby. Keith is still shaking, his thoughts going a mile a minute. He had texted Kolivan in the car saying that he was on his way, but hasn’t heard back from him yet. There’s a pretty girl sitting at the front desk. Her long brown hair is tied back in a high ponytail, exposing her dazzling green eyes. Just the kind of girl Lance would probably try and hit on. 

“Hello. What can I do for you?” Her voice is as sweet as syrup. It makes Keith feel sick. 

“I’m looking for Takashi Shirogane. He was just brought in,” Keith’s voice was surprisingly hoarse, even though he didn’t do any crying. 

The girl types quickly on her computer before looking back to Keith, her smile still present. “Are you family?”

“I’m his brother.”

She types again for a few moments, before handing him a slip of paper. “Put this on your shirt.” She turns to Lance. “And you?” 

Lance flicks his eyes to Keith’s. “I’ll wait here for you, yeah? I don’t want to intrude.” 

Keith nods, and the girl points to her right. “He’s in room 4F. The elevator is down the hall to the right.” 

She was barely able to finish her sentence before Keith tore off down the hall. His feet almost skid at the corner as he turns to the elevators. The short ride up felt like hours, his thoughts going so fast now it’s like he isn’t even thinking at all. He shoves his hands into his pockets to help stop the shaking. 

Keith thinks back to the night before Shiro left. They had microwave lasagna for dinner, watched  _ Parks and Recreation.  _ He thinks back to how much he had to say to his brother before he left. He wishes he used that time he had to talk with him, to joke with him. Because now he doesn’t think they’ll have another one of those nights again. 

At long last, the elevator dings, and the steel doors open up to a fluorescent white hallway. Keith practically sprints to room 4F, letting his legs direct him rather than his head. But when he finally gets to the big wooden door, he freezes. Keith just now realizes he doesn’t know what to expect. How did he get hurt? How severe is it? What is he like now? Keith isn’t sure that he wants to know the answer to these questions. 

The only way to know is if he opens the door.

So he does. 

And he sees his brother on a hospital bed, plugged into different machines, missing an arm.  _ Missing an arm.  _

Keith steps carefully into the room, unsure if this was real or not.  _ There’s no way this is really happening. No way he… _

Kolivan is sitting at Shiro’s side, looking solemnly at Shiro’s sleeping face. He looks up and meets Keith’s gaze, nodding in acknowledgement. Keith walks slowly to sit next to Kolivan, his eyes threatening to spill over. 

“How is he?” Keith’s voice is shaky and damp. 

“Better,” is all Kolivan says. He doesn’t add on to the statement. After a second, he holds out an arm. Cautiously, he wraps it around Keith. Keith decides it doesn’t matter how he feels about Kolivan, and leans into his hug. And they both cry. For a long time. 

* * *

 

Lance sits down in an empty seat in the hospital waiting room. He immediately goes to take out his phone from his back pocket. 

**Lancey Lance:** made it to the hospital

**Lancey Lance:** keith is w his fam rn

**Lancey Lance:** u guys good? 

**Hunk the Man:** yup

**Hunk the Man:** pidge ate all of ur leftover pasta btw

**Lancey Lance:** NO

**Hunk the Man:** rip :(

Lance shut off his phone, unaware of what else he should say to Hunk. His phone was about to die anyway. He leans back in his chair, and lets himself wander. Keith looked so scared today. He looked so… vulnerable. Terrified. It broke Lance’s heart to see him like that. Oh yeah. That was a whole new matter. His heart and Keith. 

Lance doesn’t know when he started to care for him. Maybe it was the first day of school. Maybe it was at the block party. Maybe it was tonight, when he was dancing with him and the blush in Keith’s cheeks made his heart pound. All he knows is that he likes him. More than a friend. And what he did at the block party made sure that Keith could never like him back. It was all just so sudden then, y’know? He still hadn’t completely come to terms with the fact that he was bisexual, and Keith, the really hot boy that made Lance’s heart ache, sitting  _ that close  _ to him wasn’t exactly the best situation. 

But now, Lance knows for certain. He likes Keith. A lot. And he wishes that Keith could still like him back. 

Lance let’s himself zone out into the white hospital atmosphere. The clock on the other side of the room reads 11:30 pm. Almost midnight. A toddler is resting on a tired mother’s knee as she bobs him up and down. He giggles. An old couple are holdings hands, slowly falling asleep. Lance starts to drift off too…

“Lance?” 

Keith’s voice snaps him awake. His eyes open to meet Keith’s gray ones. The area around Keith’s eyes is red and blotchy, like he’s been crying. And he’s alone. 

“My uncle’s staying overnight with Shiro. Kicked me out.” Keith attempts to smile a little. “You mind driving me home?” 

Lance shakes his head. “Yeah, no problem.” He pushes himself out of his chair, picking out his keys from his pocket. “You ready?”

Keith glances back down the hall from which he came, like he’s looking at Shiro one last time. “Yeah.” 

This time in the car, Lance switches on the radio. It’s on a pop station, and Taylor Swift’s voice quietly plays from the speakers. Keith is still staring out the window, not wanting to make conversation. 

Lance, however, is feeling delirious. Not in a bad way, just that he’s tired and excited and his heart is pounding and he can’t think straight and-

“Do you just want to stay over at my place?” 

Keith lifts his head from his hand. “What?”

Lance gulps. “Do you want to stay over at my place tonight? Your gonna be alone at your house, and I-I just thought you might want company.”

Keith blinks at him. 

“I mean, if you don’t want to, that’s totally cool. If you want to be alone, that’s ok. I-I don’t mean  _ alone  _ alone but-” Lance sighs. “You know what I mean.” He waits anxiously for a few beats before Keith responds. 

“Yeah. That’d be nice.” 

Lance can barely contain his grin the rest of the drive. 

* * *

 

The windows are dark as Lance pulls into the driveway. His family was staying over at an aunt’s house for the night, and Hunk and Pidge left after they finished off all of his leftovers (“Thanks a lot guys.”). They would be alone. Lance flicked on the lights as they walked in the front door, the empty house echoing their footsteps through the foyer. 

“So…,” Lance starts awkwardly, putting the keys back on the rack. “Wanna head upstairs?” 

Keith shrugs his shoulders. “Sure.” 

Lance starts up the white carpeted stairs, Keith following. The upstairs was just as impressive as the downstairs. Keith noted the family pictures all over the walls, and the multiple drawings that were clearly done by young kids. There was a hallway that had two bedrooms and an adjoining bathroom to the right, and to the left, there was a single bedroom with another bathroom. Lance went down to the left. 

Lance turned on the lights, and Keith had to blink a few times to register how  _ clean  _ it was. Keith never really thought of lance as the kids who would have a neat and organized room, but this was  _ next level.  _ The bed was made neatly, and there weren’t any clothes on the floor. The textbooks on his desk were stacked in perfect piles, not a single pen out of place. His bookshelf looked like something out of a Pinterest ad. 

“Am I in a magazine set?” Keith asked dumbly. Lance laughs, doubling over onto the floor. Keith flushes, and laughs along nervously.  _ Shit.  _

“No, my mom’s just a neat freak,” Lance breathes, crawling over to the dresser. He takes out a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. “Catch.” He throws them to Keith, who catches them in surprise. 

“You can sleep in those,” Lance explains. “Sorry if they’re a little big.”

“I’m, like, the same height as you, dude,” Keith mumbles. 

Lance strokes an imaginary beard. “Nah. You’re tiny.” Before Keith has a chance to fire back at him, he points to the door leading to the bathroom. “You can change in there.” 

Keith glares at him as he goes into the bathroom to change. But as soon as the door closes, he almost screams.  _ I’M SLEEPING OVER AT LANCE’S HOUSE. ALONE. WITH LANCE. A L O N E .  _

Keith mouths  _ Oh my fucking god  _ to himself in the mirror, running his hands through his hair. He feels guilty for feeling so happy about it, especially since Shiro is in the hospital right now and  _ missing an arm.  _ He looks back up at himself in the mirror. His eyes are still a little red, but they are much clearer than they were 45 minutes ago. His hair is a disaster, and he re-ties it. At least the shaking stopped. 

Keith unbuttons his shirt, and slips on the one Lance gave him. It has the words “Garrison Swim” in big black block letters across the front, and “McClain, 88” on the back. If Keith didn’t want to stab himself before, he definitely wants to now. Out of all the shirts Lance could’ve given him, he gave him this one? Luckily, the sweatpants were just pain black (and very comfortable). Unluckily, both the shirt and the sweatpants smelled so much like Lance. It was like they radiated his deodorant of pine and (strangely) fresh laundry. 

Reluctantly, Keith opened the door and went back into Lance’s room. “Hey Lance-”

Lance. Isn’t wearing a shirt. What.  _ Hello. Is anyone there. God. How did I get here. What is going on. hELLO- _

Lance’s back is to Keith. He’s wearing grey sweatpants dangerously low on his hips, a thin line of his briefs showing on the top. When Keith says Lance’s name, his muscles tense a little, and he turns around. Keith almost drooled. Almost.  _ Shit. _

“Oh hey,” Lance says casually, looking up from his phone. “Sorry was just texting Hunk.” He switches off his phone and slips it into the front pocket of his sweatpants. 

Keith bites his tongue, bringing him back. “Where am I sleeping?” he stammers. Oops. He didn’t mean for it to be so direct.  _ Y’know, you could’ve phrased it better if you weren’t staring at his abs- _

“You can take my bed if you’d like,” Lance rubs his neck, jabbing his elbow in the direction of the twin bed in the corner of the room. “I can take the floor.”

“No, it’s okay. I’ll be fine on the floor.”

“You sure?”

“Mhmm.” 

“Okay.”

“I’ll go get the air matress.” 

“Need help?”

“Nah I got it.”

Lance left the room swiftly to get the air mattress from downstairs, and Keith is left to his own devices. By “own devices”, Keith means trying not to pass out, and coming up with a plan on how he’s going to survive the night. 

He didn’t factor in the fact that Lance would be  _ shirtless.  _ And even if he had, he didn’t factor in how  _ pretty  _ he’d look. It was never part of his plan. But now he has to deal with it. Great. Whatever deity or fate thing put him in this situation can die. 

Lance returns moments later with the air mattress bag slung over his shoulder, a bundle of blankets, and a pillow in his hands. Keith grabs the blankets and pillow from him. Quietly, they unroll the mattress and plug it into the wall, watching it slowly fill with air. Neither knew what to say, so neither said anything. 

Lance helped Keith pull the sheet and blanket over the mattress. As Keith settled into bed, Lance went to the bathroom to take out his contacts and put on his glasses (Keith was now 100% sure something was fucking with him, because Lance just looked so damn  _ cute _ ). The lights were now off, and they were in the darkness together. 

But, no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t drift off to sleep. Keith was plagued with thoughts of Shiro and his condition. Kolivan was with him, but that didn’t mean he was doing well. Kolivan would call him if something happened right? Or would he wait until morning? Should he go back and insist he stay? What if-

“You asleep?” Lance whispers above him. Keith’s eyes flicker to the ceiling, staring at the edge of Lance’s blanket. He waits a beat before he responds. 

“No.” 

“Are you tired?”

“No.”

“Want to play a game?”

“Okay.”

Lance is silent. 

“Lance?”

“What game should we play?”

“I don’t know.”

“Neither do I.”

“So...now what?”

“We could talk.”

“Okay.”

Keith hears Lance shift on the mattress, turning towards him. Keith does the same. “What do you want to talk about?” 

Lance sighs. “I dunno…” He pauses. “How’re you feeling about your brother?” 

Keith tenses. He knew Lance was going to ask about that. Probably expecting him to open up about it, how close he was with his brother, how he feels about everything, how he feels about his father...

“I… don’t really know how to describe it,” Keith begins. “We were really close and stuff before he left. Seeing him like this… it sucks.” Lance listens intently as Keith continues. “Like I was mad at him for leaving me alone with my uncle for such a long time, but I understood why he felt like he had to go. Shiro had a duty, and I understood why he had to fill it. It’s just,” Keith covers his face in his hands, muffling his voice. “Why did he have to get hurt? Why did he have to be on the front lines? Why couldn’t’ve he just done his thing off of the field? Why did he have to go and get hurt?”

 

Lance nods his head. “My dad was like that too, y’know? Felt like he had a position to fill. Felt like he had something to prove.” 

 

“He left for the war when I was five. Promised me he was just going to be gone for six months, that he’d be back to see me go into first grade,” Lance choked down a sob. “He didn’t keep his promise.”

 

“Oh,” Keith breathed softly. “I’m sorry.” 

 

A tear was falling gently down Lance’s face. “It’s okay. It’s not your fault.” Lance wiped the tear from his face with the heel of his hand. “I shouldn’t be one to cry anyway. That happened over ten years ago. I don’t have the-the right to cry. You do. Shiro’s hurt now, not in the past.” 

 

“No,” Keith argued. “You still have the right to be sad. Just because it was so long ago doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t still be able to feel sad. Obviously, I don’t mean you should feel sad, I just mean that if you feel sad you should… be able to feel it.” He finishes speaking quickly. 

 

Lance smiles, wiping another tear from his face. “Thank you.” 

 

Keith bites his bottom lip to hide his grin. “No problem.” 

 

Silence washes over them like a blanket. Both knew the other was still there, still awake, and wanted to start a conversation, but no words came. What else is there left to say? What else  _ could  _ they say to each other? Well maybe-

 

“Keith?” Lance asks nervously. 

 

“Yeah?” His voice is still as clear as day.

 

“Do you… want to sleep up here with me?” 

 

Keith can feel his heart beating out of his chest as he gives his response. “Yeah, okay.” 

 

Quickly, and as quietly as possible, he sits up from his air mattress. He strips away the blanket and grabs his pillow. Keith stands up, and finds Lance moved towards the wall, giving him room to slip under the covers. Nervously, he places his pillow down next to Lance’s and lies down in the small twin bed next to him. The bed is already warm from Lance’s body, and the heat from Keith’s face doesn’t help his predicament. 

 

He shifts his body so his back is to Lance, while Lance is facing him. Lance gives him a quick warning, “You mind if I-” before he slips his arm around Keith’s waist, pulling him close and entangling their legs. “Sorry,” he apologizes. “This bed is way too small for the both of us.” 

 

Keith manages to croak, “Yeah, it’s cool”, before he completely tenses up. This was just  _ weird.  _ Earlier today he was looking at himself in the mirror thinking how stupid he looked in a gold belt. Then he got the call about Shiro, and he was in a state of pure fear. And now, he’s laying in Lance’s arms, in his bed,  _ in his clothes.  _ This is something out of a really weird dream, and Keith wants to wake up. 

 

Keith can feel Lance’s breaths tickling his neck. They’re soft and warm, like a baby’s. His skin is smooth too. Smooth and soft. Keith holds back the urge to wrap his arms around him and never let go. Besides, Lance can probably feel how fast his heart is racing right now. Just like he can feel how fast Lance’s is moving. 

As soon as Keith gingerly put his hand over Lance’s as they fell asleep, Lance decided that he was going to do it. He was going to man up and tell him how he feels, anxiety be damned. 

 

“Hey, Keith,” he murmurs into the nape of Keith’s neck. Keith mumbles something incoherent in reply. Lance takes that as a green light to keep talking. 

 

“I like you.”

 

For a second, Keith doesn’t even register what Lance said. It had to be something from his imagination, right? Lance couldn't have actually said-

 

“I like you, Keith.”

 

_ Oh. So he didn’t imagine it.  _

 

“You… like,  _ like-like  _ me?”

 

Keith can feel Lance grin into his neck. “Yeah. I  _ like-like  _ you.” 

 

“Oh.” Keith can hardly keep himself together. “Well, I like you too.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah. For awhile now actually.” 

 

“Oh.” 

 

They can hear their heartbeat in their ears. 

 

“Hey Keith?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Can I kiss you?” 

 

Keith shifts his body around to face Lance. Lance’s lips are parted slightly, his blue eyes staring into Keith’s anxiously. They practically glow in the dark. 

 

“Yeah.” 

Gently, Lance moves closer to Keith. They’re noses brush, and Keith carefully closes his eyes, watching Lance do the same. And all at once, Keith feels the shy pressure of Lance’s lips on his. Keith is in heaven. 

 

Keith kisses him back lightly, careful not to be too forceful. When they pull away, both are smiling. They don’t stay apart for long, however. Lance is barely able to pull away for air when Keith crashes his lips against Lance’s again. Lance doesn’t complain. Lance moves his hands behind Keith’s neck, pulling him closer. Keith does the same, snaking his arms around Lance’s back. 

 

They kiss for as long as they can, both of them unable to stop smiling. When Keith finally pulls away, his lips sore and red, he sighs. He never thought he would get this, never thought he’d get to feel appreciated. Lance made him feel like that, and he was forever grateful. 

 

Lance swipes Keith’s dark black bangs out of his face, gazing tenderly into his grey eyes. “You’re eyes are really pretty,” he comments. “They look purple.” 

 

Keith rubs his thumb over Lance’s knuckles. “Nah. They’re nothing compared to yours.” 

 

Lance flushes, burying his face in Keith’s chest. “Shut up,” says his muffled voice. Keith giggles, continuing to run his thumb over Lance’s hand. 

 

“Oh,” Lance pulls himself up from Keith’s chest. “By the way, happy new year.” 

 

“Happy-” Lance cuts Keith off, pressing a kiss to his forehead. He pulls away, smirking. 

“-New Year.” Keith finishes, feeling like the wind was knocked out of him. Lance hums, pulls Keith into his chest, and closes his eyes. They both fall asleep soon after that, finally feeling as though a crushing weight had been lifted off their chest. At least, for now. 

 

Because now, in the early hours of January 1st, they had each other, and  _ nothing  _ could tear them apart. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> B I T C H   
> THIS TOOK SO LONG TO WRITE BUT IM DONE A T L A S T   
> but don't worry guys, there's still a T O N of the story left to unfold ;)
> 
> yell at me on tumblr: geckointhegarbage.tumblr.com
> 
> art tumblr: 88-20.tumblr.com


	13. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prom?

_ Five months later _

 

“I swear to God Keith, if you don’t come downstairs in the next five seconds I will take Lance to prom myself!” Shiro yells from the living room. 

Keith chuckles, straightening his bow tie in the mirror. The bright red contrasts his black hair, which was braided back on one side into a ponytail. He stares at himself in the mirror for a moment, satisfied. Grabbing his phone and the corsage from his desk, he runs down the stairs to meet his brother and his date. 

 

When he walks into the living room, Shiro is sitting on one of the leather couches, his new prosthetic shining in the fluorescent light. Shiro meets his eyes, and grins. “Hey loverboy! He finally made it downstairs.” 

 

“Geez, took him long enough!”

 

Keith turns around just in time to see Lance strutting out of the kitchen, his hands in his jacket pockets. For a second, Keith forgets how to think. Lance’s hair is combed back, his blue eyes sparkling. The royal blue bow tie he wears contrasts perfectly with his all black suit. It takes Keith a few moments to snap back into reality. 

 

And Lance is ready for him when he does. 

 

“You look good,” Keith manages to choke out. He can practically hear Shiro’s smirk. Lance’s grin widens. 

 

“You too.” Lance grabs a red corsage from the coffee table, and fastens it around Keith’s wrist. Keith does the same with his. 

 

“You ready to go?” Lance asks, holding out his hand. 

 

Keith looks back to Shiro, who smiles in support. “What are you waiting for?” he asks. “Go to prom!” 

 

They all chuckle, and Keith waves his brother goodbye as he walks out the front door.

 

* * *

 

“WHO’S READY TO FUCKIN’ PARTY!” Pidge screams as they walk into prom. Thir high school was hosting senior prom at a local hotel ballroom. The room was huge, and decorated to match a space theme. Stars hung from the tall ceilings, and students could pose and take pictures with space related backdrops. 

 

The group chuckles at Pidge’s comment as they take in the room. Some people are already dancing on the dancefloor, while most sit and claim tables. The group claims a table towards the back of room, which fit them perfectly. 

 

Lance leans back in his chair, sighing. “This is our last high school dance.”

 

“At last we can be freed from this hell,” Hunk replies.

 

Pidge glances between the two of them, looking out of place from her usual self with her hair brought back with a sparkly green headband. “Okay losers can we go dance now?”

 

Keith, Hunk, and Lance all laugh in unison. 

 

“Wow, I can’t believe the nerdiest out of all of us wants to actually go interact with other human beings,” Keith jokes. 

 

Pidge stares daggers at him, then turns to Lance. “You better keep your boyfriend under control, McClain,” she says, pointing at Keith. “Next time he says something I  _ will  _ stab him.”

 

Lance shrugs. “He’ll probably deserve it.” Lance smiles at Keith. 

 

Keith gasps dramatically. “You motherfucker!” He jokingly punches Lance in the arm, who, instead of punching him back, leans in to kiss his cheek, taking Keith by surprise. 

 

“Wh-,” Keith stutters before Lance laces their fingers together and plants another kiss on Keith’s neck. 

 

“I’d never let her stab you,” he says softly, giggling. 

 

Keith rolls his eyes fondly. “‘mkay,” he laughs. 

 

“Aww!” Hunk gushes. “You guys are so cute!” 

 

Pidge moves her fingers back and forth like they are talking. “Blah blah blah, are we going or not?” 

 

Lance and Keith stand up along with Pidge and Hunk. They move toward the (now huge) group of teenagers on the dance floor, towards the bright multicolored lights. Pidge and Hunk dance their way over, cheering and moving their heads along to the music. Before Lance and Keith can reach the dancefloor, however, Lance pulls Keith aside into a dark corner. 

 

“What’s up?” Keith asks, his eyebrows knitted together. “Is something wrong?” 

 

His thoughts are interrupted when Lance’s lips hit his. On impulse, Keith closes his eyes and leans into the soft kiss, wrapping his arms around Lance’s neck. When they break apart, Lance is smiling fondly. 

 

“What was that for?” Keith whispers, his breath fanning over Lance’s face. 

 

“Because I need to tell you something and if you break up with me after I tell you I want to have one last good memory of us,” Lance says so quickly that Keith is barely able to grasp each word. 

 

“Okay?” Keith responds after a second, confused. 

 

Lance leans into Keith, placing his head at the crook of his neck. The three words he says wash over Keith like a wave, knocking him down violently but making a soft cushion in the sand. 

 

“I love you.” 

 

Keith’s smile was wide. He could feel Lance’s breath hitch after he said those three words, waiting in suspense for Keith’s response. 

 

“I love you too.”

 

Lance laughs breathily against Keith’s neck. He pulls Keith closer to him, burying his face and hands in his suit. “I love you so much, Keith.”

 

Keith pulls Lance as close to him as possible, kissing his hair. He hopes Lance will get the message. They hug for what feels like hours, the thought of prom being put at the back of their minds.  

 

They could have probably stayed embracing for the rest of night, if it wasn’t for Hunk finding them. 

 

“Sorry to interrupt a moment but they just put on Avalanche and I thought you guys would like to know,” he says quickly, avoiding eye contact with both of them. “C’mon!” 

 

Keith and Lance glance at each other. Lance cocks his head toward the way back to the dancefloor, and holds out his hand. 

 

_ One glance and the avalanche drops _

_ One look and my heartbeat stops _

 

Keith takes it, and realizes that maybe he does have a purpose in life. That he wasn’t going to live his life alone and die without anything to his name, or any legacy left behind. That purpose’s name is Lance McClain and he swears to never  _ ever  _ let go of his hand, no matter how much it costs. 

 

He was never going to lose his lifeline. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaannd that's a wrap on See You Around the Block!! thanks so much for sticking through this fic! i love each and every one of you guys, thanks for your kind comments and kudos on my work <3 
> 
> see you guys in november when i start up a new fic! until then check out: 
> 
> tumblr: geckointhegarbage.tumblr.com  
> art tumblr: 88-20.tumblr.com

**Author's Note:**

> And that's the end of the first chapter! At first, I plan to update pretty often, but it might slow down as time goes on. Anyway, look forward to chapter two soon!
> 
> If you don't know already, I have a tumblr! Follow me there to keep up with me (Shoot me an ask too if you'd like!).
> 
> Link: https://geekstuckinthetrash.tumblr.com/


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